Sheldonopolis
by regertz
Summary: In a dystopic future, Humanity's last hope is the visionary metropolis created by the genius of grand Administrator Sheldon Cooperson and Rotwolowitz, the inventor...But is it a paradise or a Sheldonesque version of Hell? And can a savior from the waitressing ranks of its cloned workers change its future?
1. Chapter 1

"Sheldonopolis…"

Sheldon Cooperson, the Master of Sheldonopolis… Dr. Sheldon L. Cooper

Calvin Cooperson, his son… Dr. Leonard Hofstadter

Rotwolowitz, the inventor… Howard, the engineer

Amy, Chief Assistant to the Master of Sheldonopolis… Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler

Penny/Futura, her android double…

The Creative Man…

Death…

The Seven Deadly Sins… Penny, the waitress

The Thin Man… Name withheld by request

Male Worker clones… Howard, the engineer

Grotta, chief clone supervisor for the Heart machine…

Female worker clones…

Georgy… Dr. Bernadette Rostenkowski

("Howard, the engineer?" "Would you want to be the only one listed without Dr. in front?" Sheldon, archly…

Hmmn…

"It does have a nice ring to it, Howie…" Bernadette notes…

"Yeah, yeah…Forget about 'the engineer'…What about this 'Penny, the waitress' crap?...I'm the only actor in this bunch…"

"And don't forget the Epigram, Leonard… 'Between the Heart and the Head, there must be a Mediator…And that Must be the Human Heart'…Such a wise people, the Germans…"

"Yeah…It's interesting though isn't it that the original story's author Thea von Harbou then decided Hitler of all people was the perfect mediator for Germany and turned her ex-husband/director Fritz Lang in as a Jew to the Nazis." Howard noted.

"Howard?...We agreed it was too easy to get Sheldon with that, when we agreed you could be the mad scientist, not me…Even though I'm a much better choice…And the idea of being Sheldon's son makes me want to vomit…"

"Oh, right…" Raj, frowning… "Try being the Thin Man, chief goon to Sheldon…With almost no lines…"

"And why would we consider you a perfect choice for that?..." Howard. "And you get the single greatest line of all."

"True enough." Raj nodded, reflecting. "And it better not be cut…Like most of the Thin Man's scenes till the restored version appeared."

"And you get to physically intimidate me, Rajesh." Amy noted.

Oh…Involuntary gasp…

Several stares…

Leonard chuckling…Right…Raj "intimidating" Amy…Uh-huh…

"I'm sure Raj will be a perfect gentleman in any 'intimidation'…" Penny noted, hastily.

"Or else…" she glared at Raj…Who gulped.

"No one mentioned any 'physical' things between Rajesh and Amy…" Sheldon, a mite perturbed.

"Oh, he gets very…Physical…" Amy noted, innocently.

Oh…Involuntary gasp…

"Why do you keep doing that?" Sheldon eyed her.

"Doing…What?" innocent gaze.

Right…Amy…Raj sighed.

"Uh, you know…If Sheldon feels uncomfortable about this, I'm sure Bernadette would be willing to step up and…"

"Raj…A word?" Howard, politely…Stepping over. "Sheldon? Care to join us?"

"Why?" Sheldon stared.

"So you can help me physically threaten Rajesh if he makes any moves on Amy or tries again to switch Bernie into the role." Howard, patiently. Raj staring…

"Oh…Right…Excellent notion, Howard." Sheldon, sagely nodding. Stepping over.

"Penny?" Amy had gone over by her bestie…

"You are one shrewd little minx, you…" Penny grinned. "I know I said to let Sheldon know Raj's character would be getting…"

"Oh…Physical?"

"Uh, yeah…Amy? You ok?" concerned look. "Leonard?" she turned to Leonard who came over to take Amy's arm.

"I'm fine…" Amy shook head…

"Not for you!" Sheldon's voice from the corner where he and Howard were discussing matters with Raj…Who gave a sudden shocked groan. "Sheldon?!"

"Sure?" Leonard eyed Amy. Penny, looking a bit anxious. Mainly over Amy's sudden spell, partially eyeing Leonard's grip on Amy's arm.

"Yes…It's just…All this 'physicality'…And display of manly prerogative over my person is making me a little dizzy…" Amy noted, swaying a bit. Eager glance toward Sheldon…

"Maybe this script thing isn't such a good idea." Leonard looked to Penny.

"Oh, no…" Amy put up a hand… "The show…Physicality and all…Must go on! Right, bestie?"

"Hmmn…Oh, yeah." Penny nodded.

Nah, there's nothing there but genuine sweet Leonardly concern.

Even if she is so smart…And has become so open about her "physicality" since we first knew her…

Nope, nothin' at all to worry meself about…C'mon…

Amy and Leonard? No way, no how…

I hope…

"Well, we're all better now…" a beaming Howard with Sheldon, leading a rather anxious Raj back to the group…Bernadette, with them, a bit torn between appreciation for the jealously romantic gesture and annoyance for the same.

"Look, if this is gonna make trouble among us…" Leonard began, carefully…

"I don't think there'll be any trouble now…" Howard, brightly. "Right, Raj?"

"No." sigh.

"Leonard?..." Penny, disappointed tone… "C'mon guys…You said you'd do this for me…As an acting exercise that would let you get into playing roles in a classic sci-fi tale…Leonard, you're the hero…And Raj, the Thin Man is a great part…You get to be the Enforcer, Secret Police Chief, and be Sheldon's conscience later…No small parts, guys…"

"Well, you should certainly know about that…" Sheldon, smugly…Slight frown. "And what would I need a conscience for?" he eyed Amy.

Well…Uh…Amy, looking away.

Oh, I already be melding into my part as adoring assistant to a controlling power-mad dictator…Who turns from him only to save his soul.

"One more word, Sheldon and I'll take Leonard up on that idea to use a digital composite of the real Fredersen to play your character and you can be the wussy worker guy, Georgy…Or one of those worker clone guys who gets fed to the Moloch machine…" Penny glared.

Wussy…? Bernadette hissing to Howard… "I thought you said my female version would be a noble character…"

"And it will…Or the mad Rotwolowitz will deal with the fools standing in his beloved's way." Howard, raised eyebrow, attempt at mad man's look.

"Ok, then…Let the show go on." Bernadette nodded, beaming.

"Are you sure you're right for this part?" Sheldon eyeing Amy. "I don't know if I like having you play this part…"

"Are you attempting to 'physically' intimidate me…Within strict limits, of course...From taking this role?" she eyed him.

"Am I right in assuming…Within strict limits…The answer is yes…Within strict limits…?" he eyed her.

"Within strict limits…Yes."

Oh…)

Prelude…Cue original "Metropolis" score…

Title card…

In 2056, Humanity, devastated by ecological disasters of its own making…Nope, no evil Skynet, no Matrix computer revolt…Heck, the computers have been the only things trying their devoted best to save our miserable hides…Has largely retreated from the Earth's surface to a paradise/Hell of its own creation…Sheldonopolis, the global city, the womb of surviving Humanity.

Part underground labyrinth, part towering crown reaching to the sky, this vast complex covers a large stretch of what was once the urban areas of Earth, with surface points at old New York, London, Paris, Rome, Berlin, Moscow, Beijing, Tokyo, Sydney, Singapore, Bangkok, New Delhi, Calcutta, Los Angeles, Buenos Ayres, Rio de Janiero, Chicago, all interconnected by a network of caverns and tunnels, mostly underground or undersea. The vast treks of badly damaged, largely lifeless, ocean and lands now are abandoned by Humanity and under the care of its machines, slowly and painfully being restored to viability. Yet within the vast metropolis, one might believe its glittering surface areas and bustling upper caverns, designed by its creators with eye to both utility and beauty, to hold the Paradise Humanity had so long dreamed of.

At least, if you were of the same mind as its creators…

And of the fortunate upper millions, the elite chosen for survival by the world city's creators when all seemed lost and Humanity, in its last gasps of desperate strife, doomed…Before the brilliant minds of the creators had offered a last, best hope.

If however, you were not of the same mind as the said creators…As a member of the pampered, secure elite, you might find the controlled climate and artificial weather conditions monotonous and stifling…The restrictions on use of public space annoying…The political restrictions and limited input into governance contrary to the more advanced notions of human liberty…The restraints of freedom of expression a weight on the spirit. But most such members, raised in the conditions of the supercity, were satisfied with the many perks and indulgences granted the elite…And it had been true that with the initial crisis over, a loosening of the reins had occurred.

A loosening not always considered desirable by certain members of the creative leadership…Particularly the great Administrator himself, the famed Sheldon Cooperson…

Not to be confused with the warm-hearted, free-wheeling, lovable famed physicist Sheldon Cooper of course…

("I had that put in…" Sheldon noted to Amy. "Though really I think Cooperson is the hero here…")

…A man whose vision, with the help of others, had saved all Humanity and was steadily restoring the globe to health…But who had become convinced by the turmoil and destruction and waste of the decades of strife and struggle leading to the triumph of Sheldonopolis that only an iron will in tight control of his great creation could keep Humanity safe and the world on its slow course of healing….

And if, you were not of that pampered elite of millions…You might well find this "paradise" of salvation, a veritable Hell… If you were one of the faceless billions of workers whose toil and effort had not only built this great structure but maintained it, even with their life's blood…A worker race of clones, bred by the creators to serve their great dreams but to have no share in its benefits. The grim solution to centuries of thought on social structure, born of desperation as Earth's human billions had died in scores…Even in their deaths posing a terrible threat to human survival. Billions of workers had been needed to clear the dead and build the great structures and billions were created…Bred supposedly to be content with their limited lot, unable to advance mentally beyond the abilities of say, a reasonably capable engineer or microbiologist…

("Heh, heh, heh…" Howard, forced laugh. "Very funny, guys, very funny…I for one am really gonna enjoy the workers' revolt against you Nazi sons-of-bitches."

"Howie…" Bernadette, sighing. Then grim look. "Don't tell the bastards about our revolt, we want them lulled into security and condescending incomprehension when we strike and kill them all, roasting their effete fat asses over the ashes of their mammoth temple to exploitation."

"So right, dearest." He nodded, happily…The others staring…

"Hey, guys…We're not all bad here…" Leonard tried. "My character's the mediator for you…Plus I wrote a liberal reform movement among the elite into the script…And don't forget, you're part of the leadership. Rotwolowitz…" arch look.

"The part that wants to destroy this unholy Nazi world and watch the people hang your torn out guts out to dry…" smile.

"We'll need better security…That was always a problem in the original film. What was Fredersen thinking not to have a strong police force standing by…" Raj noted, shaking head to Sheldon.)


	2. Chapter 2

"Sheldonopolis…"

Sheldon Cooperson, the Master of Sheldonopolis… Dr. Sheldon L. Cooper

Calvin Cooperson, his son… Dr. Leonard Hofstadter

Rotwolowitz, the inventor… Howard, the engineer

Amy, nervous Chief Assistant to the Master of Sheldonopolis… Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler

Penny/Futura, her android double… Penny, the waitress

The Thin Man… Name withheld by request

Male Worker clones… Howard, the engineer

Grotta, chief clone supervisor for the Heart machine…Female worker clones… Dr. Bernadette Rostenkowski

Summary: In a dystopic future, Humanity's last hope is the visionary metropolis created by the genius of grand Administrator Sheldon Cooperson and Rotwolowitz, the inventor...But is it a paradise or a Sheldonesque version of Hell? And can a savior from the waitressing ranks of its cloned workers change its future?

Disclaimer: It's all Chuck's...

Part I…

Shift change…

In the bowels of the central complex of the global city of Sheldonopolis' underground Workers' City, thousands upon thousands of work- ("And sex. We allow them sex." Sheldon, insistent. "Gotta go with the Master of Sheldonopolis on this one, guys." Howard nodded) benumbed worker clones shuffling off to work in the various complexes powering, feeding, maintaining, and even, amusing, the elites above…Trudging to the giant elevators, where herded like livestock into cattle cars, the clones and offspring are ferried to the various working levels of Sheldonopolis…That glorious and independent city on a global hill, the last hope of Humanity following the crises of the 21st century…Where said Humanity survives in rather splendid comfort while the Earth around slowly heals…Sheldonopolis, its gleaming towers and subterranean caverns of crystalline, biodegradable when treated for demolition, yet immensely strong and durable material reaching to the heavens and deep within the bowels of old Earth…Its carefully monitored flyways for flying vehicles of all descriptions and arching sky roadways for electric automobiles, things of graceful beauty….Powered by tidal, geothermal, and space-based, microwave transmitted solar energy with enough energy to care for Humanity's stabilized millions plus three billion worker clones…Governed under a façade of representative rule…A "democracy" restricted to the elite…Masking the benevolent dictatorship of its chief creator and grand Administrator, Sheldon Lee Cooperson …His once blindly accepted rule somewhat tempered in recent decades following protests among the elite…Unfortunately, he would insist…By a legislature of sorts, elected from and by those citizens deemed sufficient in intellect and wealth to have a (minor, often unheeded, but increasingly troublesome) say…

And certainly not including the worker clones…Those now returning from their ten hour work shift shuffling exhaustedly off the return elevators to their bare, if functional, small homes in the deepest caverns, the grimly sunless Depths, lit by artificial illumination, devoid of all greenspace, offering a drab and bleak survival with hope of advancement limited to a handful allowed to move to supervisory positions with marginally better pay and living conditions and a rare chance of seeing the grand world above. Despite the occasional vague talk of reform by either government or the elite, no cultural or environment stimulus was offered, even education kept to the necessary minimal level.

And yet…Even among the clones, the human spirit could not be denied…Though the brutally repressed worker revolts of the early days of the supercity before the clone lines had been established were a distant memory, the clone workers had not lost all connection to the past struggles of the mass of Humanity. Original non-clone workers living on in the Workers' City as it was established had kept the memories alive and natural human curiosity and spirit had done the rest. The clones accepted the reality of their harsh lot for the present but dreamed of better…And actively sought it. Some patiently through peaceful means…Some not. Yet as the promises made by Cooperson and the reformers among the elite failed to materialize into benefits or were actively ignored, patience was wearing fatally thin…

But far above the grim drab caves of the Workers' City, there seemed no limits to the joys and pleasures available to the elite…The grand Administrator and his creator comrades having envisioned their global hive for Humanity as far more than a mere sanctuary for survival. And Administrator Cooperson well aware of the power of bread and circuses to keep the mass of the ruling elite content with his concealed rule. Not only beautiful in its efficiency, the glorious main City and above all, its central complex in what had once been the United States' state of California, was an aesthetic joy…Though some of the elite might occasionally grumble as to Cooperson's and founder comrades' choices. None, however, could deny that the great City and its complexes boasted all the delights desirable…Stadiums, lecture halls, entertainment centers of every description…For while Sheldon Cooperson and his surviving colleaguemight each distain such frivolities, the grand Administrator was well aware they were a cheap price to pay for acquiescence to his generally unchallenged rule.

Unchallenged that is, until recently…

For even the pleasures of the great City could not completely stifle the occasional desire for greater political freedom and control…And chaffed annoyance at Cooperson's dominant role in every aspect of "his" creation. Even as the 35th anniversary of his rule approached, with celebrations planned, honorary orations prepared, laudatory books, films, and music written and created for the occasion…And the mammoth public electronic billboards, Sheldonet chat rooms and message boards, video networks including the Sheldon News Channel, Sheldonbook social network all bearing both governmental and private testaments to his glory…Many even quite sincere…Discontent among the elite had resurfaced. As if granting them a constitution, written by him…A legislature, limited in authority, subject to his veto, and packed by his supporters…Some lifting of the censorship once deemed necessary to survival…And slight judicial limitations on his arbitrary power…Hadn't been more than enough concession. Increasingly, if vaguely, reforms were being demanded. Reforms the grand Administrator was not willing to countenance.

But for the young and pampered elite, all that seemed unimportant and inconsequential in contrast to the pursuit of pleasure…Pleasure sought both in the refined environs of the central complex's famed "Club of the Sons", a haven for the sons and daughters of the elite, with its paradisical "Eternal Cooperian Gardens", an ecological wonderland of samples of Earth's surviving biological and geologic treasures, its "Great Library of Sheldonopolis" a vast computerized and interactive and holographic library of all human knowledge, and its"Grand Hippodrome" sports arena, where the elite young could do the only sweating they ever did, for pleasure or watch the various sports teams, such as the Fighting Sheldons, engaged in various ritual competitions such as the Sheldonbowl or the Sheldonopolis Series…And in the less edifying if perhaps more sensual nightclubs and gambling establishments, particularly the infamous palace of earthy delights, Yoshiwara, run, like its sister establishments, with the tacit license of the government as a necessary outlet for the more dangerous passions of the elite. A place where one could indulge any and every form of sin and depravity Administrator Cooperson could frown on…Gambling, dancing, consumption of alcoholic beverages…Even those awful things his mother Mary Cooperson's strict upbringing would keep him from naming.

And while such diversions meant nothing to the Master of Sheldonopolis, as befitting a supposed equal among equals, a Princeps and First Citizen of the People, his own and only son, Calvin Cooperson, eagerly joined in, indulging in the pleasures offered and competing, supposedly as an equal…If somewhat more equal and far better documented in the media than others…In the various competitive sporting events. Even this very day, this moment, engaged in the great 35th "All Hail Cooperson Our Noble Father" Anniversary Relay Race…And triumphing… To the fervent…

Well, some fervent…Some more self-servingly servile…Heck, after all, he's the unacknowledged but actual prince of the global metropolis…

…Cheers of the attendees…

("Hey…" Leonard eyed the giggling Penny. "Sorry…" she put up a hand. "You, a sports hero?" "Well, we fix the races…It's necessary to maintain a proper image." Raj noted, slight solemn look befitting Sheldon's top security agent. "Hey!" Leonard fumed. "Maybe I get training here or something…" "Yeah, something…" Howard noted, grinning… "The fix is in…"

"Guys…" frown. "Say…" Leonard eyed himself in the mirror.

"Is it really necessary for us to dress the parts? And I do hafta wear these knickers?" he stared at said knickers in mirror.

"We agreed we'd follow the movie script as much as possible…" Sheldon noted firmly. "And Freder Frederson wears knickers…Right there." He pointed to an image of Freder on computer screen, in knickers and boots.

Geesh…Leonard shook head.

"Hey, I have to wear that stupid black cap and overalls…When I'm not…Rotwolowitz." Howard noted, with slight dramatic flare at end.

"I think you look cute in knickers…" Penny grinned.)


	3. Chapter 3

"Sheldonopolis…"

Summary: In a dystopic future, Humanity's last hope is the visionary metropolis created by the genius of grand Administrator Sheldon Cooperson and Rotwolowitz, the inventor...But is it a paradise or a Sheldonesque version of Hell? And can a savior from the waitressing ranks of its cloned workers change its future?

Disclaimer: It's all Chuck's...

Sheldon Cooperson, the Master of Sheldonopolis… Dr. Sheldon L. Cooper

Calvin Cooperson, his son… Dr. Leonard Hofstadter

Rotwolowitz, the inventor… Howard, the engineer

Amy, nervous Chief Assistant to the Master of Sheldonopolis… Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler

Penny/Futura, her android double…

The Creative Man…

Death…

The Seven Deadly Sins… Penny, the waitress

The Thin Man… Name withheld by request

Male Worker clones… Howard, the engineer

Grotta, chief clone supervisor for the Heart machine…Female worker clones… Dr. Bernadette Rostenkowski

Georgy… (awaiting recast)

Part II…

Post triumph celebration party at the Sheldonpolis Central Complex's "Club of the Sons"…

("'Sons'?..." Penny eyed Leonard.

Ummn… "That's how the script and the novel by Ms. von Harbou call it…" he noted, sheepishly. "I'm sure there's a 'Club of the Daughters'."

"Guys…Easy solution." Howard, cutting in… "This is a politely Albert Speer-veneered Naziland, complete with government tolerated/supported all but named brothels like Yoshiwara …Sexual oppression can be a given."

"There is a liberal reform movement…That I wrote in." Leonard, apologetically.

"And Speer would have closed Auschwitz right after he took over…But gee, all but a token handful of Europe's Jews would have been gassed before he did so, what a shame." Howard, grimly. "No, Leonard…I'm not letting Ms. Nazi von Harbou off easy here, sorry."

"You get the feeling Howard has an agenda in agreeing to do this…?" Leonard, aside to Penny…

"You say you want a revolution…Well you know…" Howard, humming to Bernadette. Now rather proudly sporting his worker's cap, she beaming, sporting her own.

"Oh, guys? Since Bernadette doesn't want to play Georgy…Raj?" Leonard eyed him.

"It really just doesn't suit…I mean Calvin takes his place…Wouldn't anyone notice he's not a she?" Bernadette.

"And no way am I playing a wuss who truckles under to the Cooperson and his goon…" she hissed to Howard, fist bumping.

Yeah, just as long as you're not 'truckling under' to Rajesh…Howard thought, nodding, returning comradely bump.

"Right, I play the Secret Police Agent/Chief and the guy I'm intimidating…In the same scene?" Raj, frowning.

…of course, it would be a challenge to an…Actor…

Still, I was hoping to intimidate Bernadette…

"Well, maybe I could play both roles…" Leonard suggested. "Unless…Penny…Penny?" he stared.

"I have pleaded for peace…!" she now in costume, gesturing wildly… "Not now, Leonard, I'm practicing for my big rabble-rousing scene with the workers after the robot takes my place." "Remember, you're a female Hitler stirring up the mob…" Howard, directing.

"When did we agree Howard should be the director?" Sheldon, a bit miffed to Amy… "He's director, Leonard's the adaptor/writer…What am I? I'm supposed to be the grand Administrator…This is my city…Sheldonopolis." "Yes, and you're much too busy being the creator/star." She nodded, supportive pat. As befitting chief assistant to the grand Administrator.

"Ok, cut…" Howard called. "We'll resume at the Eternal Gardens scene when we have our supporting cast tomorrow. Assuming all of them come…" glance to Raj.

Tomorrow…)

The triumphant Calvin Cooperson, son and unacknowledged…It supposedly being a democratic system, the position of chief magistrate/grand Administrator filled by election of the legistature… But in real terms very much so, heir to the Master of Sheldonopolis, basking in the plaudits of the crowd, and even more so, in the embraces of various beauties…Professional beauties from the clone population as well as members of the daughters of the elite seeking their chance at becoming the consort of the present prince and future master of Earth's global city.

("Ok…" Penny, in costume, breaking off from her rehearsal, readying for her entrance… "Alex? Lucy? I really want you to know I do appreciate your being willing to help out in this scene? But lets tone down the embracing a little?" stern frown…

"Oh, sure…" Alex, in costume…Authentic costume, she being a huge "Metropolis" fan…Stepping back a little.

Though Penny was unable to avoid speculating that she might just be a huge fan of wearing a backless costume and being embraced by Leonard…

Lucy, a bit dazed…Never played a high-class courtesan before…In fact, never hung out with half a dozen people for so long before without racing for a bathroom window exit.

You know…Leonard eyed himself in white silk shirt and knickers. All-in-all, the knickers look kinda good on me…

"Why are you so pleased with yourself?" Penny hissed to him. "Are you enjoying all this embracing?"

"Lucy?" Raj hissed. "I really think you've had enough of my magic cure for social anxiety disorder?" taking bottle gently from her hand as she stood by the refreshments.

Director Howard frowning at his cast…We don't have the light here in the "Eternal Gardens" aka The Huntington Botantical Gardens, all day, people… "Lets have our maitre'd enter…Stuart?" "Here…" Stuart, in waiter's outfit...

"You are so good to me, Raj…" Lucy, sentimentally… "Isn't…hic… Raj good to me?" she noted to Leonard. "You're really cute too, Calvin…" she beamed.

Karma, yes…I get it…Raj sighed to himself.)

An anxious maitre'd of the Club scanning the various ladies, focusing on the more "professional" types… "Which of you ladies has been chosen to entertain Master Cooperson, son of our grand Administrator?"

"Hey!" eager call…

(Too eager…Penny frowned at Alex…

Can't believe a son of mine would be wasting his time at a place like this…Sheldon noted to Amy… "Sports hero? Please…" "Sheldon, you're a master politician here as well as a creative genius…And master politicians and their offspring must occasionally cater to the tastes and whims of the masses." "Thought I was dictator…" "Semi-benevolent despot, concealing your rule like the first Roman emperor, Augustus." She noted. "Oh…Right. But I am planning to crush my opposition and rule arbitrarily?" "Yes, but that's your secret plan…For now we lull the masses of the elite using the popularity…More or less…Of your son." "Really? My, I'm good…You know I never thought of going into politics before but…"

"Howie?!" Bernadette, blanching as she overheard Sheldon… "Bernie…Don't worry, he'd never really stand a chance and if he did, I'd shoot him."

"Say…Um…Howard?" Stuart, a bit sheepishly. "You know I'm glad to help out here in these bit roles but I don't see my name on any of the credits…?" "Only the major roles…We'd have to list Alex and Lucy too…Bernie says it would double the cost of printing the credit cards. I can make it fifteen dollars instead of ten?" "Roll 'em." Stuart, eagerly.)

Young Cooperson, relishing the acclaim and the ladies' attention…Now focusing on the most eager of the young ladies, in backless gown. Playfully chasing her among the luxurious gardens, even as other ladies vied for his attentions…

("Bernie…A little more enthusiasm…You want to hook up with the princeling here." "I'm a clone prostitute, do I hafta like it?" she frowned at Howard.

"Prostitute? I allow prostitution?" Sheldon, blanching… "Bread and circuses, Augustus…" Amy intoned…Patting…)

…Catching the young lady of his desire and, with her rather eager…

(Too eager…Way too eager…Penny, in costume, awaiting cue…

"Remember…We are good children and we all get free ice cream vouchers after the scene." Amy noted to the group of kids offered a walk-on part in the strange bunch of geeks' and their rather pretty girls' video. Their mothers watching carefully…)

...Cooperation…Embracing her for a passionate…

("Penny?! Wait for…!"

"Come on, kids! Extra vouchers for the first ones here!" Penny called, stepping forward.)

…Suddenly a figure at the entrance to the Gardens…

A gentle, rather tall, soulful-looking young woman in simple dress…

(Kinda sexy with that lacing on the chest…Leonard thought, beaming…

Alex's frown at his lack of attention being exactly what director Howard was shooting for…)

…Gazing out at the crowd of elites and their servants…She, surrounded now by children…

("No shoving, kids! Hey, you little…HEEYY!" Penny glared. "CUT!..." Howard called.)

…Nervously staring out at the crowd from behind her…

("She knows how to handle kids…" Bernadette nodded to Howard.)

"Look, children…" the angelic figure pointed with outstretched hand. "These are your brothers and sisters…"

Calvin stared, transfixed…

("Leonard?..." Alex hissed. "I'm smothering in this silk shirt of yours, can you let me go?"

"Sorry…"

"CUT!" Howard, glaring… "And please watch the costumes, people. Silk costs you know!"

"There should be credit for the videotography on this…" Sheldon noted to Amy as she paused the camera.

Beaming, "Thank you, Sheldon." "I mean for me, as director of videotography.")

"These are your brothers and sisters…" the angel noted to the staring elites, indicating the children at her side…

("Kid, if you try touching my boobs again…" Penny glared at one of the older boys who tried an innocent look…)


	4. Chapter 4

"Sheldonopolis…"

Summary: In a dystopic future, Humanity's last hope is the visionary metropolis created by the genius of grand Administrator Sheldon Cooperson and Rotwolowitz, the inventor...But is it a paradise or a Sheldonesque version of Hell? And can a savior from the waitressing ranks of its cloned workers change its future?

Sheldon Cooperson, the Master of Sheldonopolis… Dr. Sheldon L. Cooper

Calvin Cooperson, his son… Dr. Leonard Hofstadter

Rotwolowitz, the inventor… Howard, the engineer

Amy, nervous Chief Assistant to the Master of Sheldonopolis… Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler

Penny/Futura, her android double…

The Creative Man…

Death…

The Seven Deadly Sins… Penny, the waitress

The Thin Man… Name withheld by request

Male Worker clones… Howard, the engineer

Grotta, chief clone supervisor for the Heart machine…Female worker clones… Dr. Bernadette Rostenkowski

Georgy… Stuart Bloom

("Can't understand why Stuart didn't like my suggestion of 'Stuart, the comic book store owner/failed artist' for his credit. Owning a comic book store is certainly a far superior title than 'engineer' or Lord, help us…'Waitress'." Sheldon, grousing to Amy.

"Tell the grand Administrator, the evil robot Penny is gonna kick his kazoo outta his Chancellor Palpatine office window in the scene when we get caught together by Calvin if he doesn't watch it." Penny hissed to Amy.

Hmmn…A chance to die for my beloved? Opposing my bestie in physical conflict while he watches? Oh, now that would turn our work of art and tribute to a visionary film maker into a sordidly titillating…Blatantly sexually exploitive…

On the other hand, if that wouldn't get Sheldon going…My cause is hopeless.

"What did Penny want?" "Oh…Nothing…"

Wait…

Caught?…Together? Penny and Sheldon? Evil hypersexual robot Penny and Sheldon?

"Leonard! I need to talk to you about the script!

I was wondering when she'd remember about that scene with Penny and Sheldon…Leonard thought, viewing a determined Amy bearing down on him.)

Part III…

Amidst the glorious sculpted grounds of the famed and fabulous Eternal Gardens of Sheldonpolis…Notice particularly the one hundred foot high topiary sculptures of our noble grand Administrator lining the entranceway…Our great Father's beloved image in forever living green…The youthful unacknowledged prince of Sheldonpolis, Calvin Cooperson was finding his life about to change forever into new and hitherto unimagined channels.

("Right…" Penny, glaring…Then rather downcast… "Falling for a waitress…What a comedown, huh?"

"A waitress-clone, Penny…Try and get it right." Sheldon noted.

"Penny…" Leonard sighed. "You're so much more than a waitress here…You're…" He blinked at her stare.

"…an actress." He hastily dropped the "…a savior". "And they're noble 'unimagined channels' …Whole new realms of possibility, all thanks to you…Her…"

"Oh…ThankyouLeonard…" tearing…Hug.

"Even I get that he only pretended to make a mistake with the 'you' there." Sheldon noted, aside to Amy.)

But even as he gazed into the angelic face calmly regarding him and the others, the children under her wing backing away…

("Kid, the direction says for you to back up…Now stop trying to steal my scene and back up or so help me." Penny growlingly hissed at one of the children somewhat less inclined to remain under her wing…Winning considerable admiration from the rest of the cast as she maintained her angelically calm gaze.

"God, we coulda used her at my mom's illegal day care." Bernadette noted fondly to Howard.)

…He sensed, despite her calm that the angel was moved as well…Locking eyes with him for a long moment as he gripped his hands to his chest..Brushing the girl clinging to him now, away as if she were mere fog…

("Ow!"

"Sorry, Alex…Didn't mean to push you…" Leonard, apologetically…

"Cut." Howard, grimly... An air of infinite yet threatening…Patience…You guys wanna keep us here all night, every night…We'll stay here…All night, every night.

Yeah…Too busy being overwhelmed by me, small fry…The door to whole new realms and all that neat realmy stuff inside…Penny thought, contentedly.)

But the other elite club members and the nervous maitre'd were moving to bring the eternal moment to a sudden close…The elites pulling back in stunned shock at the sight of the worker children in their private paradise…The maitre'd summonizing staff to deal with the intrusion.

One of those damned "Occupy Something" things, no doubt…

("We're waiters and waitresses too, now?" Bernadette hissed to Howard as she moved to shoo the children back to the entranceway. "Well, it makes sense…We're supposed to be clones…" He noted.)

But even as the staff attempted to carry out its orders, they found themselves unable to face the steady, innocent gaze of the woman before them…

("Like a virgin…Touched for the very first time…" Amy sang in low tone.

What…? She eyed the group's stare…Sheldon's the most horrified. "I was just setting the mood.")

…Even the maitre'd flustered at her calm and unruffled demeanor…

But, after a last gaze around the magnificent gardens, she gently waved the children back to the entrance and led them out…Calvin staring after her. Running to the flummoxed and anxious maitre'd… "Who was that?"

"Only the daughter of some worker…" the hasty, nervous answer. "I'll find out how this occurred…A thousand pardons, Mr. Cooperson…" 

"She's got a right to come here like anyone else…" Calvin eyed him. "And it's nice to see the kids getting a little sun…They looked kinda rickettedly if you ask me. I should talk to Dad about diet among the workers."

"Yes, yes…Of course, sir…Again, sir…I must apologize…"

"She went back into the depths?" Calvin stared… "It seems so hard to believe she could have come from…Down there…" he glanced round the vast garden complex.

(Lord, this really is nice here… "Penny, we should come back here sometime on our own…"

"Yeah, my Howie can pick a great romantic spot…" Bernadette beamed.

Great…Howard Wolowitz can find a place like this to romance a girl…Penny sighed.

Whereas my boyfriend…

"Look, petunias…Petunias for Penny." Leonard innocently beamed at the patch he'd spotted.

"Petunias with a $500/30 days in jail fine for picking them…" Howard hissed. Leonard dropping the two he'd plucked.

Ohhh…Penny sighed… "Leonard…You sweet thing…Kick 'em under the bench before that cop sees…"

"Some of us get petunias…Some of us get…Tiaras…" Amy noted happily to Sheldon. Hugging him.)

No…Perhaps we've been blind…Too blinded by the beautiful façade here to see the pure gold beneath…

A concealed camera in one of the giant Sheldon topiary heads moving to focus on him…

"What the hell is that kid of mine up to there? And who was that blonde girl?" the voice of the grand Administrator himself, in dark suit from his chair, watching from his vast desk on a vast screen projected on his vast office's vast windows.

We're talking Chancelor…Palpatine, Hitler, you take your choice…Vast…

Though the chair? Strictly comfy…

"He's just won the City Sprinting Competition…" his faithful assistant, Amy by name, answering the query hastily…A beautiful and radiant young woman bearing the noble chin and soulful eyes of Margaret Hamilton coupled to a most bodacious chassis…Naturally concealed, for reasons of professionalism, by a modest business suit.

"And?..." glare…

"I don't know who the girl is, sir. But I'll…"

"Strike one, Fowler." Curt wave of hand.

("Was that ruthless enough?" Sheldon, in his best suit, nervously eyeing Amy…

Ohhhh…She gasped. "I mean…Oh…Yeah, definitely ruthless enough. Ruthless, ruthless, devastingly ruthless…"

"Raj? By any remote chance…Are you laughing at the notion that my boyfriend could win a sprinting competition …Little man?" Penny eyed him, grimly.

"Hey!" a swaying Lucy eyed her, blearily… "You betta keep yo' metal roboty hands off my guy!" pointing unsteady finger.

"And cut…Quickly." Howard sighed. "Lunch, everyone…"

"And ice cream!" Amy beamed at the children grimly waiting to be compensated…Who now gave happy screams…

"Howard? Do we have enough vouchers for all these kids?" Leonard stared.

A lot more than I expected…

"I needed more than five kids for this scene…" Howard insistent. "I'll just get more if we need them."

"Not to worry…" Sheldon noted… "I brought along a book of my valuable Cooper coupons…"

Hmmn…Howard stared. "You know, it's almost worth the risk of being lynched by this mob of kids and moms to see the expression on his face after he offers the kids those coupons just before they kill him." He noted to Bernadette, aside…

God…Fifteen bucks, a chance to see Penny acting, and lunch…What a day…Stuart thought…)


	5. Chapter 5

"Sheldonopolis…"

Summary: In a dystopic future, Humanity's last hope is the visionary metropolis created by the genius of grand Administrator Sheldon Cooperson and Rotwolowitz, the inventor...But is it a paradise or a Sheldonesque version of Hell? And can a savior from the waitressing ranks of its cloned workers change its future?

Sheldon Cooperson, the Master of Sheldonopolis… Dr. Sheldon L. Cooper

Calvin Cooperson, his son… Dr. Leonard Hofstadter

Rotwolowitz, the inventor… Howard, the engineer

Amy, nervous Chief Assistant to the Master of Sheldonopolis… Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler

Penny/Futura, her android double…

The Creative Man…

Death…

The Seven Deadly Sins… Penny, the waitress

The Thin Man… Name withheld by request

Male Worker clones… Howard, the engineer

Grotta, chief clone supervisor for the Heart machine…Female worker clones… Dr. Bernadette Rostenkowski

Georgy… Stuart Bloom

Part IV…

2020…

"It Wasn't Me!..." terrified scream from the aging bald fat man cornered by the furious mob of hysterics…He clambering to the top of the balcony of the hotel foyer.

"Kill him! LImberger, you lying, corrupt piece of s**t!" cries…

"Friends!...Friends!...I…I was misinformed!"

"We killed Bock and the Kach brothers, you're next!"

"It was the liberals…Friends…The scientists…They lie!"

"They were right, you son of a bitch! We're all gonna die! But you're gonna die first!"

"They fooled me…They didn't tell me everything they said was true!"

"It's 125 degrees outside…And this is October!" "The oceans are dead! All the crops are burned up!"

Stones, various items hurled…Escape cut off… Pleading, frantic wave of arms…

"Oh, it was the bosses, friends! Like that guy Murdach, the one who stole his young wife's body!"

"You mean this Murdach!" one mob member…Holding the severed female head high…

"Oh…I was just a stooge! A stooge!" he screamed. "I just said what the bosses tole me to say! NOOOO!" as the mob pounced, tearing his carcass to pieces, various members running off with sizable portions to feed their starving families…

Video footage frozen…

A 35 years younger Sheldon Cooperson in suit eyeing the frozen image as he stood before a conference table…A table of well-dressed but desperate looking officials. Beside him, also standing…The famous Howard A. Rotwolowitz, inventive genius…

("Lets hear that again…" Howard grinned…)

…Inventive genius and famed urban engineer…And the lovely Dr. Helga "Hel" Rostenkowski, leading biologist and sociologist…

This team of three, led of course by the stunningly brilliant Cooperson…A Renaissance man of all scientific fields…Acknowledged as the world's leading scientific and ecologic team, leading the world's remaining great scientists. Now here before what remained of the Earth's governments in these chaotic, frantic times of turmoil and revolution as the world quite literally had entered its death throes…The oceans nearly devoid of life, plant and animal life on the land in terminal condition…Temperatures soaring with each year….To make their proposal for a last chance to save Humanity and what remained of life on the planet.

"That's only a symptom…And a relatively mild one…Of the chaos erupting each day…" Dr. Rostenkowski noted… "Society has fragmented and even the military can barely keep any semblance of order with the most severe measures."

My girl…Cooperson, Rotwolowitz eyed Helga…

Eyeing each other a moment…

Well, more important matters than our bitter romantic rivalry…

Though…She's marrying me…Howard thought, contentedly…When a marriage can be performed again…

So, up yours, Cooperson…

"Gentle-men and women…" Cooperson, taking the floor… "Time is running out…We must begin construction of the main hive at once and start a selection process. We have the projections on global death rates and billions will be dead within the next year, leading to even more massive amounts of methane and other deadly breakdown products in the atmosphere, not to mention the spread of disease, the complete collapse of all social order remaining."

"But, Dr. Cooperson…" one member, a prime minister, interrupted… "Your projections indicate that only a few million can be saved in the Metropolis hive, even if we devoted all remaining resources to its construction. Even if we must ignore the moral implications to save some remnant of Humanity…How can a few million possibly begin the massive construction you three have in mind?"

"Once the central hive is constructed, a series of human clone lines will be established and expanded as food and material resources are produced." Cooperson noted. "Within two-to-four years nearly all life on the surface of the Earth will be dead, including human life. We will then be able to begin slowly clearing the surface by the use of automated servers and within our complex the clones will provide the primary workforce, with machines…They will service and maintain the machines that will keep us not only alive, but slowly restore the planet. But it will take decades of abandoning the surface and the oceans for the planet to even begin to heal. We will have to go largely underground…Utilizing the current urban areas as surface points as outlined in our proposal. Howard?" he turned to Rotwolowitz…

Howard clicking mouse to show on screen a series of ecological disasters on the dying planet…Animals dead by the thousands, crops withered, forests burning and blighted, oceans filled with dead, floating sea life…Choked with algae…

"Ladies and gentlemen…The Earth is nearly dead…But if we act now, there are still enough resources to build a womb for a remnant of Humanity. The engineering plans here…" Howard indicated the video screen… "Will first create a single series of caverns, including yeast and hydroponic stations, which we will expand steadily, using the clones and our machines…Within five years, if we act now, we could support a population of four to six million humans and twenty to thirty million clones, and then expand on that, stabilizing the human population at about twenty million while increasing the clones to several billion workers."

"Human clones?…Why not just use machines?" the prime minister, a middle-aged woman pressed.

"You watch too many sci-fi films, pardon me, madam minister. We don't have machines capable of the flexibility and adaptability of humans yet…Though, in time…" Howard smiled. "But for the current crisis, clones are the solution…We can control their life span, their metabolism…Where it would be impossible to support a human worker population in the numbers required in the conditions of Earth for the next century or two and perhaps longer, a clone population could be engineered to survive at a fraction of the resources we'd otherwise need."

"Disposable people?" another leader stared…

"Humans of a new breed, making a great sacrifice for Humanity's survival…As will the mass of Humanity now living…Both sacrifices sadly involuntary, but absolutely necessary." Cooperson noted.

"We'll of course do our best to treat them humanely and provide for them. Naturally, in time…As resources become available…We'll improve the clones' lot and integrate them into the human population." Helga, eagerly.

"Uh…Certainly…" Cooperson agreed…A tad reluctantly…

Sounds like a return to the original problem…But lets get this show on the road and deal with the minor issues later…

"And of course the dying mass of Humanity can serve some purpose in the initial construction…Certainly those selected will have to do their share of the construction as well…" he eyed the group.

"How can we possibly tell billions they are to be abandoned to die?" another leader shook her head…

"We don't…We simply take those who are selected and let events take their course…Your remaining governments can do what they can for the remainder. Some can be kept fed and employed on the outlying construction of enclosed hydroponics, tunnels, etc for as long as possible. But focusing most resources on the construction of the metro hive. We aren't doing this to people, my friends…The Earth is…And it's no longer a matter of choice but necessity." Cooperson, grimly.

"We can do what we can for the dying…" Helga sighed. "But they will die regardless…There's no way to avoid that now."

"Friends…" Cooperson, insistent… "You can accept this chance and help to make it a success or we and what's left of the world's scientific resources will act on our own…And you can try to deal with the dying billions and the disasters to come without our help."

"That sounds suspiciously like blackmail, Dr. Cooperson…" the President of the United States, now in a permanent state of marital law. "Need I remind you, we can still have you and your people arrested…Forced to work under marital law."

"You can try, Mr. President…But we and the others will not cooperate freely…And without the Brain's guidance…The Hands and Heart of Humanity will be helpless and die. Humanity will end, sir. Within five years at the most. We warned you of the consequences for decades and you refused to heed us…Now, you must heed us and allow us to act or…We'll leave you to your fates."

"These clones…How would you establish them?" one leader cut in… "From what sources…?"

"We've determined a series reasonably intelligent, and somewhat low energy consumption basic type using genetic material from our scientific staff, including myself, Dr. Rostenkowski, and a few others whose genetic material is favorable…So you see, ladies and gentlemen…" Howard smiled. "We ourselves will be making a sacrifice here."

"And ensuring your own survival, in some form…" one leader frowned…

"All world leaders will of course be included in the selection…That goes without saying…" Cooperson smiled.

Sheldon? Hel stared at him.

We were supposed to insist this be a fair and random selection based on genetic fitness, intellect, skills, and experience… Most of these jerks were people who helped get us into this mess or did nothing to stop it…

"I see great merit in the proposal…" a leader rose hastily… "I second…" another rose…

Knew the bastards would cave when I offered a chance to save their miserable necks…Cooperson thought…

Outside the conference room, the trio moving up to a helipad on the roof…Armed guards lining the corridors…

"Looks like we sold it, buddy…" Rotwolowitz noted contentedly…

"Yes…But we'll have to make sure we maintain control…Take their resources, let them into the hive but completely strip them of power and authority. We can't allow these people to start interfering with our plans for the complex…Sheldonopolis can't be contaminated by the sins of the past…"

"Excuse me?...'Sheldonopolis'…?" Howard stared…

"Just a suggestion, old chum…" Sheldon noted. "But surely a catchy name…Don't you think Hel?" he smiled at her.

A rare thing for Cooperson…To smile at anyone…Even in happier days…And now, with Humanity's fate resting on his narrow shoulders…

"We can vote on a name later…A trivial thing…" Sheldon went on, smoothly.

"'Sheldonopolis'…It does have a catchy ring that Wolowitzopolis or Rostenkowskiopolis don't…" Helga noted.

"Hel?" Howard frowned…

"Now, Rotsy…" Hel patted his arm… "Just sayin'…"

"Well I prefer 'Metropolis'…" he noted, firmly.

Already two against one…Sheldon thought, contentedly…And I've no doubt I'll soon dominate the leadership with the force and charm of my personality…

And the goons I'll get the world governments to supply me with in exchange for expanding the list of their family members who get to go to safety…

After all, to save Humanity, we will need a single, unified vision…Control…And order…

("And cut…We have our backstory, part one…" Howard beamed.

"Amy…You know this is all fiction…Sheldon has never, ever…" Bernadette, nervously…

"Of course…" brittle smile…Nod.

Fortunately she's long dead…In the film…Shortly…)


	6. Chapter 6

"Sheldonopolis…"

Summary: In a dystopic future, Humanity's last hope is the visionary metropolis created by the genius of grand Administrator Sheldon Cooperson and Rotwolowitz, the inventor...But is it a paradise or a Sheldonesque version of Hell? And can a savior from the waitressing ranks of its cloned workers change its future?

Sheldon Cooperson, the Master of Sheldonopolis… Dr. Sheldon L. Cooper

Calvin Cooperson, his son… Dr. Leonard Hofstadter

Rotwolowitz, the inventor… Howard, the engineer

Amy, nervous Chief Assistant to the Master of Sheldonopolis… Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler

Penny/Futura, her android double…

The Creative Man…

Death…

The Seven Deadly Sins… Penny, the waitress

The Thin Man… Name withheld by request

Male Worker clones… Howard, the engineer

Grotta, chief clone supervisor for the Heart machine…Female worker clones… Dr. Bernadette Rostenkowski

Georgy… Stuart Bloom

Part V…

2056…The Eternal Gardens of Sheldonopolis…

Calvin Cooperson, transfixed by the appearance of the saintly figure guiding the children of the worker clones of Sheldonopolis to the remote Olympian heights of the central complex of the megacity to view the beauties of the glorious gardens, stared as she led the children back through the huge doorways to the elevators…

The nervous "Club of the Sons" maitre'd still anxiously trying to excuse the dreadful incident on this day of days…At the beginning of the 35th anniversary celebrations of the great Sheldon Cooperson's beneficient rule, when his son Calvin had won his own minor share of glory by beating out all competitors in the Sheldonopolis City Sprint…

…Under five' seven" category…

No questions needing to be asked as far as some outstanding potential competitors being regrettably detained from competition in various ways…

Nor was the presence of Sheldonopolis' infamous, if relatively anonymous security chief…The mysterious "Thin Man" and his agents at the competition…Of any moment…

…No, it was merely a shame that such a grand day might have been spoilt by the unfortunate intrusion…

"They do have a perfect right to come up here and see the gardens…" Calvin cut into the maitre'd's anxious expressions of distress.

"Uh…Of course, my good sir…But to intrude in such an event, a private function…"

"It's not important…I'm glad they got to see things here. And no one is to be bothered about this, understand?" he eyed the flustered maitre'd.

"Certainly, certainly, sir."

"But you don't know who that girl was? The one who led them here?"

"No idea, sir…None…Just some foolishly uppity worker clone's girl…"

Frown…Turn to one of the small clone waiters who'd hesitated to drive the children and girl out… "You?...Excuse me?...Waiter?"

"Sir." Nervously attentive…

"Did you know that girl? The one leading the kids? You seemed to recognize her."

"Uh…No, sir. She's no one I know."

Hmmn… Calvin frowned…

Sure seemed like he knew her…And respected her…

Hmmn…Cooperson in his office watching on video screen from various concealed cameras… "The boy at least knows when he's being hoodwinked. Have that waiter brought in for questioning…I want to know who that girl was. Amy?"

"Uh, yes, sir…" she hurried to her master computer console…

Calvin now staring about the Gardens…Their divine beauty somehow faded, paling…

The young lady at his side still trying to recapture his attention…Unsuccessfully…

No…Young Cooperson shook his head…Something has changed today…He looked around…

For the first time…I don't see nameless workers…He glanced at the waiters and waitress now attempting to resume their duties and attend their elite masters…

I see people…

And people who can father incredibility beautiful girls…

Though of course, her pure soul is not to be valued lightly…And all my vague sense of guilt over the years at seeing the worker clones toil without reward or thanks comes at me now…

No, I must find out more about the people who labor for us…And that girl…

He made for the great doorway, ignoring the pleas of the girl beside him, his friends, and associated hangers-on who'd been looking to enjoy a free evening of extensive carousing at the young princeling's expense…Hurrying in a tense rush, learned from years of running from tense situations with his domineering father…

What a gyp…Several disappointed hangers-on groused…

"Goddamn, where is the boy going?" Cooperson fumed, signaling for the cameras to be kept on his fleeing son…

But this is what befell Calvin Cooperson when he went to look for the girl…

Far below the heights of the central complex and its fabulous "Club of the Sons"…The Machine District, that vast warren of tunnel-connected caverns holding the great machines, hydroponic food processing stations, and power transmission centers for the global city ranged out across the Earth…An area generally not frequented by any of the elite without special business or duties there.

No need to know how the food, air, water, and power were produced…Just so long as it kept coming…No matter what the cost…

Calvin had found himself, trying to follow the progress of the children and their female leader back to the Workers' City even further below, in the very depths, here in the upper bowels of the megacity, seeking answers to questions he'd never thought to ask.

The heat and humidity were stifling…None of the pleasantness of the climate-controlled living regions of the elite…Noise everywhere…The endless droning of the great machines, the cries of worker clones, the occasional scream of an injured party…A wail of an ambulance recovering the injured, a police vehicle stealthily patrolling, each lifted off the ground by magnetic field force, hovering several feet in the air. He followed the sounds of the loudest machine in the area, revealed to be the great M-machine which transmissed power throughout the central complex, power acquired by solar, tidal, and geothermal sources…But none the less dangerous to the workers dealing with the vast machine…Crews of men monitoring at stations the length of the machine.

All regulated at a central control board, by a single worker…An elderly man, fighting to keep his marginally superior position…But today, having desperately scorned the help of a younger assistant in fear of losing his job and facing the grim prospect of retirement…A pitiful survival at best, the meagerest of pensions only granted to the elderly and disabled at the insistence of the grand Administrator's kindly wife, the famed Helga…Still something of a heroine to the clone workers who remembered her and her kindness…Though under Cooperson's grim and unyielding regime, the memory fading…The supervisor, his strength failing after nine long and grueling hours of the day's shift, was barely able to keep the machine under control. Feverishly trying to make the myriad adjustments necessary to keep the M-machine in balance…

Calvin stepping forward to eye the workers frantically maneuvering to tend the machine…As if they were the mere servants of the massive device…Insect workers serving the queen. He considered trying to address one of the workers passing feverishly…

The elderly supervisor blanching as the various indicators suggested the machine was slipping into an uncontrolled, dangerous state. Fumbling for the emergency controls, collapsing in a heap…The machine running on, a wild, newly uncaged, animal ready to pounce in rage…The monitors indicating a critical stage.

A violent explosion rocked the area…Calvin stunned and thrown back…Watching in horror as dozens of men and women were hurled from their stations, some burned, some actively burning…Their comrades rushing to help but lacking anything in terms of safety or medical equipment. He stared at the broken bodies, the scattered body parts…Losing consciousness briefly, staggering up in semi-consciousness…

"Moloch!" he, in his now semi-conscious state, staring at the damaged M-machine…The bodies scattered on and around it…

Indeed the violent and vicious god, demanding human sacrifice…He thought he could almost make out the priests eagerly summoning new victims, bound slaves who were led up the mass ramp to the gaping jaws of the Moloch god…The priests tossing the struggling victims…

But immediately after the bound victims, a docile, plodding troup of clone workers in traditional cap and uniform, matching up to their doom, patiently allowing themselves to be hurled into the gaping maw, gears of the M-machine now visible, grinding the hapless victims to pulp.

His vision cleared and he saw the damaged machine complex, new workers rushing in to take positons, the injured and dead being carried off as he watched, in numb horror. Trying to reach out but unable…

No, not even the search for that bodacious beauty could come before this…Something must be done…The one man who could act to relieve this nightmare…At least install some new safety equipment and see every position's fully staffed by well-rested personnel…Must be informed. He raced for the nearest exit to the elites' surface zone. Out on the street, he found an electric hovercar cab in the lovely standard design of a 1920's touring car and was immediately recognized by the driver…In full chauffeur's uniform.

Hey, Sheldoncab does all the trimmings…

"Sir?"

"To my father…At the new Tower of Babel!" Calvin cried. "Hurry!"

Oh, my Bank of Sheldonopolis credit card… "Here!" he offered the card with Sheldon's stern face imprinted… And his motto… "Neither a borrower nor a lender be…" in small but holographic letters on top, urging the user citizen to use credit wisely.

Hmmn…Unlimited credit…The driver noted on his monitor.

Nice…

Perhaps we can do the scenic route…

("And cut…" Howard beaming, rising from the "driver's seat" of the "cab"…A closed horse carriage hired for the occasion.

"Nice job everyone!" he noted… "Tomorrow, the Towel of Babel…Administrator Cooperson's office…Or rather the Presidents' Lounge at Cal Tech. Assuming we manage to sneak in and avoid detection on a Saturday."

Oh…My first big scene…Amy, eyes bulging…

"You sure we can get in…?" Bernadette asked Howard…

"Eh, for fifty bucks, Steve the janitor will even play Grotta if you don't…Ummn…" sheepish look.

"Yes. We don't want to go there, do we, honey?" she eyed him, frowning.

Stuart eyeing Leonard…

"Troll, Warcraft, interspecies sex…You really don't wanna know…" Leonard noted.

Actually I was more wondering about the fifty bucks mentioned…Stuart thought.

"Well?" Leonard eyed Penny.

"I know I want you for my mediator…Soon as we get home." she grinned…Rather more like her evil robot twin than the saintly heroine.

"I still say Cooperson seems like the hero here to me…" Sheldon groused to Amy.)


	7. Chapter 7

"Sheldonopolis…"

Summary: In a dystopic future, Humanity's last hope is the visionary metropolis created by the genius of grand Administrator Sheldon Cooperson and Rotwolowitz, the inventor...But is it a paradise or a Sheldonesque version of Hell? And can a savior from the waitressing ranks of its cloned workers change its future?

Sheldon Cooperson, the Master of Sheldonopolis… Dr. Sheldon L. Cooper

Calvin Cooperson, his son… Dr. Leonard Hofstadter

Rotwolowitz, the inventor… Howard, the engineer

Amy, nervous Chief Assistant to the Master of Sheldonopolis… Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler

Penny/Futura, her android double…

The Creative Man…

Death…

The Seven Deadly Sins… Penny, the waitress

The Thin Man… Name withheld by request

Male Worker clones… Howard, the engineer

Grotta, chief clone supervisor for the Heart machine…Female worker clones… Dr. Bernadette Rostenkowski

Georgy… Stuart Bloom

Part VI…

The global megacity of Sheldonopolis boasts many gloriously towering, boldly imaginative structures…The Sheldon Imperial Tower Building, the Cooper Flatiron, the Sheldonhaus, the Mary Cooper Memorial Center with its crowning six hundred foot tall statue of Sheldon, the Sheldonbowl, The Sheldonsonian Museum, The famed "Big Sheldon" clock tower in what was once old London, Sheldonplatz in the old Berlin surface area…Yet of all these magnificent architectural creations, somehow the New Tower of Babel outshines them all…

(Maybe cause it's the one building in the place we managed to avoid putting Sheldon's name on, ya think? Howard noted, aside, to Bernadette.

"Rajesh, why are you listening to us and taking notes?" Bernadette stared. "Oh…Just getting in character, nothing to worry about. After all, if you are innocent, there is nothing to fear…" stern glance. "Well, you can include that I said I think 'Thin Man' is a misnomer." Howard frowned. "Dude, I should watch what you say…You may be Sheldon's inventive genius partner and co-creator of the City but lets remember who the secret police chief is here." Narrow stare…

"Yeah…Rememba…Hic…" Lucy nodded, pointing finger. "I thought you were keeping her away from the booze." Bernadette hissed to Raj.

"I did…She's drinking non-alcoholic beer." He sighed. "I guess it's the same psychological effect."

"My guy can put you all away! Anytime he likes! Off wid' ya heads!" Lucy cried.)

Yes, the New Tower of Babel…Located in what was once Pasadena, California…Though some scholars insist it's actually old City of Los Angeles territory…The Tower rises nearly 2500 feet above the Earth, almost literally grazing the stars…Spanning a massive ground area. Here, in the vast gleaming halls, were to be found the central offices of the megacity's administration, the very nerve center of Humanity, its Brain…

Personified in the striking form of Sheldon Cooperson, grand Administrator…Master, most would agree, in all but formal name, of Sheldonopolis. The center of all activity, the unifying vision, the one man with his finger on the pulse of the global City and from it, the entire, battered Earth…

Currently engaged in his never-ending care for his magnificent creation and all Humanity…Striding his vast office with its glorious panoramic view of the structures of the Central Complex…A bevy of brilliant young assistants desperately trying to keep up with the rapid-fire brilliance of his spoken thoughts, hanging on and attempting to record his every word as he paced…He paused in mid-stride, striving for the perfect words in which to crystallize his latest master stroke of genius in resolving the myriad problems confronting the Humanity charged in his benevolent, all-embracing care…Fist clenched in mid air as he pondered. All watching, with bated breath, for the next pearl to issue from his lips… One exhausted young fellow nervously wiping sweat from his overtaxed brow, hurriedly trying to resume his poise at a stern glance from his supervisor…Who in turn nervously glanced at the Chief Assistant, Dr. Amy Josephine Fowler…Who gave the slightest of motions to kindly indicate the breech of protocol would be overlooked, if possible.

("Josephine?" Leonard eyed Howard. "She always liked it, it was her gran's middle name…And Josephat doesn't really work for her."

"Stuart, lets do that again…A little more sweat this time." Howard called. "You're utterly harassed and expecting to be terminated at any moment."

"Sounds like my daily life…" Stuart noted.

"Just remember…I have my eye on you, dude…" Raj noted, sternly. "That should be enough to make him sweat." He nodded to Howard.

"It sure makes me a bit nauseous…" Howard stared back.)

Amy herself a bit overwhelmed by the task of monitoring the data stream from the global Sheldonnet network from all points in the massive organism that is Sheldonopolis and boiling it down to the essentials deemed necessary for Sheldon's perusal…Though he would naturally peruse it all later…A man nothing, not even the slightest detail, the most trivial point, escaped.

"Yes…" Sheldon mused. Holding his thought, letting it ripen as all waited…

"Paint the new trash lids…Red…" he nodded. "Amy?"

She hurriedly punched the command into the computer, requesting a forecast of the predicted result…

"A 100% improvement in sanitary service efficiency, sir!"

A brief spasm of applause…Which a sternly curt wave of hand brought to an immediate close…He resumed pacing…

Suddenly at the great doors to the enormous cavern of an office…A solitary figure, looking sheepishly at the busy staff and the pacing Sheldon…

Amy catching sight immediately of the nervous Calvin as he gently shut the huge door, which glided shut at a touch, despite its forty foot height…She reset the data feed to standby and hurried to him…

"Calvin? Your father is very busy…You should have called me to make an appointment."

"I know, Dr. Fowler…Sorry, but this is urgent. There's been a terrible accident in the Machine District, at the M-machine….An explosion…Dozens of people hurt…Killed…I was there, I saw it…" Calvin gasped out…Grabbing at her in terror at what he'd seen.

("Ok? I wasn't overdoing it there…?" he eyed Penny. "Not at all, sweetie…" she beamed…Making Howard a metza-metza hand wave as soon as Leonard had happily turned from her.

Slight frown at Amy…Kinda eagerly accepting that embrace, aren't we, bestie?)

"Calvin?" Cooperson had caught sight of his son with Amy…

Slight narrow look…

Boy ought to have gathered that I have a little thing going with the girl…And while I'm glad to see he's got the old Cooperson spirit with the ladies…She is not for you, boy.

"Father!" Calvin hurried to him…

Oh, God…The kid isn't gonna embrace and hug me again, in front of the staff…Kid, I done tole you time and again, I ain't the nurturer in our familial…Ah, there we go again…He grabbed at Calvin's embracing arms, pulling them away.

Touchy-feely was your mother's department, boy…

"Father, it was terrible…" Calvin moaned… "Those poor workers…"

Oh, Lord…More whining about the workers…First the liberals on the legislative council, now my idiot soft-headed son?

"Father, why do we treat them so badly?"

"Badly?" he stared, frowning…Glancing about at the staff…

Just know one of them is a reporter with a wire…It would be just my luck…

"Amy?..." he eyed Fowler coolly…

"Take a break, people…Lunch, twenty-five minutes, no more!" she called.

The staff eagerly, desperately heading out…

From his room, the infamous secret police chief, the mysterious "Thin Man" watching on video scan…

"Have them all scanned for recording devices… And see no unauthorized computer access is made by any of them, including Sheldonbook posts." He noted to an assistant.

Sheldon leading the anxious Calvin to a corner…Vaguely nodding to the foolish chatter about disaster and suffering…But narrowly eyeing Amy when the room had been cleared.

She immediately getting the summons, coming over…

Dreading the next, knowing all too well what this boded…

"Amy." Curt tone.

("Amy? Don't cry, I'm not mad at you…This is acting…" he hastily noted to her tearing…

"Cut…" Howard sighed. "Sheldon, I was just acting too." Amy noted.

Well, maybe reinforced by my awe of your ruthlessly manly demeanor but…

"Oh…Well…Very nice…" Sheldon nodded.

"Can we please get on with this scene, people? We don't have forever, you know." Howard frowned. "Security could catch us at any time…Lets move on!"

Wow…Amy eyed Howard…

Surprisingly good on the ruthless himself…

Bernadette eyeing her, a bit annoyed…)

"Why is it that it's my son telling me of this explosion… And not my Chief Assistant?"

Uh…Well…She gulped.

"The details!" he barked, motioning for her to go…

She hastily slunk off, out the great door. Calvin a bit perturbed…

Didn't mean to get her in trouble…Heck it's probably coming over the data stream right now, I distracted her.

"Father..." he returned to his theme… "We have to do something to help the workers…"

"What were you doing in the Machine District, Calvin?" stern glance…

"I wanted to gaze upon the faces of those who are my brothers…My sisters…" Calvin, solemnly…

Oh, Lord…Sheldon rolled eyes.

Send them to the best schools, indulge their every whim, show them the unbridled power of power and money, leave them to chase their wildest fantasies unhindered by any responsibility…And they turn out liberals, just like their mom…

"Father…" he pleaded. "Your magnificent city…" he pointed out the vast window, indicating the glorious edifices, the magnetic railways, the flyways and electrified roadways… "You the Brain of the city, all of us above in the light…But the workers, their hands built this City…Where is their place?"

Sheldon frowning at the renewed embrace…What is it with you and your Mom and this need to constantly touch?

"In their proper place…The Depths…!"

"The Depths?...Without hope? No future?"

Kid, if God had wanted them to have better lives…

Calvin pulled away in shock, staring at Cooperson's icy, grimly set face…

It's tough being "guy-in-charge", "Modern Augustus" but hey…Sheldon thought…Somebody has to keep this place going…

Calvin, pondering… "What if one day those in the Depths rise up…Against you?"

Bwhrr…Those dweebs? Bazinga, right? Sheldon grinned, shaking head…

"There were revolts decades ago…" Calvin noted.

"By real humans…" Sheldon chuckled. "And I dealt with them…"

"At a cost…" Calvin quietly… "And you might not have the help you did then…"

"Boy…You don't know what you're talking about. I have this City and the workers in the palm of my…"

Whoops…He stared at his desk console where an urgent light was flashing with buzz…Amy entering a moment later…

"The Chief Foreperson of the Machine District, Grotta, is here…With an important message." She urgently noted.

"In." Sheldon nodded…Calvin moving to a corner as the Master of Sheldonopolis took his seat behind his mammoth desk.

Ah, nothing like a comfy spot…Sheldon thougth, contentedly.

"Welcome, Grotta…" he beamed at the nervously sheepish Grotta, a short blonde clone in overalls eyeing him carefully.

"Sir…" she edged toward the desk.

"Please, what can I do for you?" Sheldon, expansively…Hand tucked inside suit…

…To feel for concealed gun…Carried on urging of the Thin Man…

One can never be too careful when one is head honcho and occasionally forced to make the tough decisions…Like sending off family members without notice to distant areas…Cutting food rations without explanation while the elites swill merrily…Reducing health benefits and shortening life expectancy to save on resources…And of course ignoring all promises made regarding betterment of conditions…

"More of those damned plans, Mr. Cooperson…" Grotta sighed, nervously…Pulling out a couple of dirty sheets of paper from her overalls pockets.

"They were found on two of the workers involved in today's accident at the M-machine…" she noted.

Cooperson standing grimly now, fists on desk, eyeing plans with furious stare.

"Amy." Brutally curt hiss.

Amy, gulping involuntarily…Scurrying over.

Cooperson, in icy rage, holding papers up. "Amy? Why is it that these plans are brought to me by Grotta and not by you?" Not looking at her…

("CUT! Sheldon?"

"What?"

"You're crying?! What the hell are you crying for?!"

"I'm being mean to Amy…I don't want to be mean to Amy…" Sheldon, sniffling…

"Oh, sweetheart…" Amy hurried over… "I know, I know you don't want to be mean…It's just acting…And you're doing wonderfully." She beamed, kissing his head.)


	8. Chapter 8

"Sheldonopolis…"

Summary: In a dystopic future, Humanity's last hope is the visionary metropolis created by the genius of grand Administrator Sheldon Cooperson and Rotwolowitz, the inventor...But is it a paradise or a Sheldonesque version of Hell? And can a savior from the waitressing ranks of its cloned workers change its future?

Sheldon Cooperson, the Master of Sheldonopolis… Dr. Sheldon L. Cooper

Calvin Cooperson, his son… Dr. Leonard Hofstadter

Rotwolowitz, the inventor… Howard, the engineer

Amy, nervous Chief Assistant to the Master of Sheldonopolis… Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler

Penny/Futura, her android double…

The Creative Man…

Death…

The Seven Deadly Sins… Penny, the waitress

The Thin Man… Name withheld by request

Male Worker clones… Howard, the engineer

Grotta, chief clone supervisor for the Heart machine…Female worker clones… Dr. Bernadette Rostenkowski

Georgy… Stuart Bloom

Part VII…

The sprawling, cavernous office of Adminstrator Cooperson, Sheldonpolis Central Complex, New Tower of Babel, Office 1, Section1, MailStop 000…Letters to the Administrator will only be excepted with a stamped, self-addressed envelope included for return mailings.

("My idea. Not only cost-effective but an efficient way to obtain dissidents' addresses…" Raj noted to Lucy rather proudly.

"I can't imagine why the NSA hasn't tracked you down for recruitment…" Howard, frowning…

"Ummn…Who says they haven't?" Lucy, archly at end…Grin to a startled Raj who grinned back.

Great…Our friends, the Himmlers…Howard groused to Bernadette.)

Calvin Cooperson, son of the grand Administrator, staring nervously out over the vast expanse of the City's surface extension for the Central Complex…Formerly the areas encompassing LA to San Francisco… 

Cooperson himself occupied with the failings of his Chief Assistant…Waiting grimly for her excuse…

("If she comes up with a good one, how about I not fire her?" he urged to Howard…

"F***Ing CUTTTT!" Howard yelled. "What is this?! Are you professionals or not?! Enough with the pointless interruptions, people! We have a schedule!"

Geesh…Give him a monocle and maybe a riding crop and he's Fritz Lang himself…Leonard noted quietly to Penny. As Sheldon and Amy stared, stunned…

"Director is a tough position, Leonard…" she frowned at him. "Especially with this amateur cast…" she sniffed, moving off…

Well…La-dee-da-da…he glared after her.

What, he praises you in a couple of scenes and you're sucking up… To Howard Wolowitz… Now?

"Howard. That's enough. " Amy, grimly interrupting the Herr director's tirade. "Sheldon's doing a fine job, he just had a simple question…There's no reason to get so upset."

"This is what happens when your actors sleep together…" Howard, fuming.

"What?" Sheldon stared.

"Howard?!" Bernadette, annoyed… "That's enough with the Erich von Stroheim, buddy."

"Sorry. All right. Fine, lets just get on with it…Ok?" Howard sighed.

Amy blinking…

"Is…That-that…true?" she hissed to Bernadette…Quaking a bit…

Oh, if so…Even if we do it in reverse order…

"Ask Penny…The…'Professional Actress'…" Bernadette grumbled, having heard Penny's conversation with Leonard…And noted the aforementioned "sucking up" to the herr director Wolowitz…Not to mention her attempt to "guide her" in her Grotta scene.

Like I wasn't perfect in my first take?)

Grotta, rather sheepishly standing, awaiting dismissal to return to her duties…But aware of the tension…

Someone's about to be joining the ranks of the machine servants, I'd say…She eyed the nervous Amy…

Who made no answer, simply awaiting Cooperson's wrath…

Cooperson returning the papers to his desk… "Report to the G-Bank for the balance of your wages." He looked away from her.

Calvin, stunned…As Amy tearfully stared, a silent plea…Then, resigned…Bowing and turning away. Staggering as she hurried out the great doors, trying to keep to a dignified walk, but unable to, shoulders hunched in overwhelming shame…

("Yes!" Sheldon, applauding…

Leonard, startled, blinking at him but joining in a second later…As did Penny, Bernadette, and Raj…Lucy a moment later though only vaguely…Still rather dizzy….

"Great job, Amy!" Penny called.

"Sorry, Mr. Director…" Sheldon, apologetically… "I'm just acknowledging Amy's marvelous talent and skills…"

"Sheldon?" Howard stared…

Maybe he's the one replaced by the robot double…

"What was that about hunched shoulders…?" Amy hissed to Penny. "I was keeping erect to show my fortitude despite the crushing of my spirit…" "Sweetie, sometimes best to just grab the Oscar and go home…" Penny noted, aside.

"Just wanna say, great job, you too, Mr. Director…" she beamed to Howard. He stared…

First, Sheldon for Amy, now Penny…For me? I think we've entered the Twilight Zone…

"I was thinking…About my next scene…?" she began, walking off to the refreshments table with him.

Bernadette following rather grimly...

"Penny?" Leonard hissed as she passed. "Gotta few points to go over with the director, Leonard." She noted.

'Nice job first time acting there, Leonard'…All to please you…Mighta been nice…He frowned.)

"Father…?" Calvin ran to him, Cooperson eyeing him coolly. "Amy?" he pointed to the closed doors… "Father, don't you know what it means to be dismissed like that by you? It means 'Go below…To the Depths.' Father?" he pleaded as Cooperson eyed him coldly.

Shaking head, he finally backed away…A grim look coming over his face. No…He shook his head. And made for the great door, Cooperson coolly looking after him...

Grotta still standing uncomfortably by the desk…

("So I just stand there?" she eyed Howard. "Actually I think it works…You're like a Greek chorus." He noted, expansively…

"My God…He's a natural…" Penny sighed to a frowning Leonard. "Listen to him…He's brilliant."

"Yeah, yeah…" glare…

"Now, Leonard…I've worked with some good directors before, but…"

"Right…" grim look…

"Ok, people…" Howard called… "When we resume…I want to get one more take of Calvin and Cooperson at the window…So we can properly splice in the Chancellor Palpatine's office window from 'Attack of the Clones' with the 'Blade Runner' scene by CGI wizardry…Which would be me."

"Fantastic idea, Howard!" Penny called… "And wizardry is right! Isn't he something?" she bubbled to Leonard…

What?...She stared.

"Oh, go blow it…" Leonard, bitterly… Rising and moving to Bernadette…Penny blinking at him.

Hey…Leonard?...Her jaw dropped.

"I cannot believe she's falling all over Howard like that." He groused to Bernadette.

Oh…He eyed her grim stare to him… "Sorry, Bernadette…I wasn't thinking…I don't mean…" "I know." She nodded. "If I'd thought it was more than just her actress' instinct kickin' in to secure the director's favor you'd be writing a eulogy for your late girlfriend right now. Just a matter of how agonizing I'd wanna make her death."

"Just a moment before we continue, Howard?" Amy, calmly. "Sheldon, that was magic…Movie magic…"

"Why, thank you, Amy Farrah Fowler…" "Amy Jospehine Fowler…" Amy corrected. "I like to stay in character."

"Ok, now lets stand aside, thespian amateurs…For some real acting…" haughty tone…

"Lucy, sweetheart…Much as I appreciate the build-up…You really have had enough." Raj hissed.)

Cooperson returned to his massive desk, pressing button there.

Outside, Calvin had reached the central staircase, where a staggering Amy was numbly making her way to the nearest quiet corner…Pulling something from her suit pocket.

("You shoulda shot the sunbitch down like a dawg!" Sheldon cried. All staring…

"A little regression to my origins…I don't like what that fellow did to Amy." He glared, trembling…

"Sheldon, that fellow is you…" Leonard noted.

"No one hurts my Amy like that! I don't like this! Howard, I want a rewrite…I don't like this scene!" anxiously…

"But…" Leonard tried…

"Enough, Leonard." Amy, firmly, having come over as a resigned Howard called for yet another "CUT!". "Thanks, my little…Moonpie…" she beamed to Sheldon. "But I'm not going to hurt myself…I'll buck up and join the revolutionary forces. Don't you worry…I'll drag him kicking and screaming to redemption. And matrimony…" innocent look, pat…

"Oh, good…" Sheldon beamed. "I like happy endings…"

Amy…Sly grin…

"But…That's not…" Leonard interjected…

"Shut up, Leonard." She frowned. "I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. Wolowitz."

"Great…" Howard sighed. "Ok…Pla..ces…Rooolll 'em.")

Calvin, hurrying to stop Amy from her suicidal act…

("Oh, tell me when it's over!" Sheldon, covering eyes.

"Our ruthless dictator…" Leonard eyed Bernadette.

"You wanna see 'ruthless', Hofstadter…?" Amy glared.

"Don't fight…It upsets me…" Sheldon pleaded. "And I can't project my ruthlessly icy demeanor when I'm upset…"

"Lovely…" Howard rolled eyes.

"It's ok…We were just debating the action of the scene…No need to get upset, honey…" Amy urged.

"Ok…Just…No more 'debating'…" Sheldon eyeing both.

"No…" she put up a hand. "In fact, Leonard's about to save me from hurting myself. You remember the scene coming up…?"

"In the film…You promise he'll save you here?"

"Absolutely…" she nodded.

"Ok…But I don't have to watch, right? Till you're safely saved…?"

"Not if you don't want to…" she sighed… "But I would like it if my boyfriend saw one of my best scenes…"

"Which is never going to get done if we don't get rolling again…" Howard cut in…

"Sorry. Ok…Leonard, you do a good job saving Amy." Sheldon, firmly. "But don't save her too well…" he noted, sternly.

"Right…" Leonard sighed…)

"Don't, Amy…" Calvin pulled what was revealed to be a small pistol from her hand… "You mustn't throw your life away!"

("Republican stance on gun control or lack thereof in this megacity, I see…" Howard noted. "Sheldon, please stop humming so loudly…Penny, could you take him for a drink or something till we get through this scene?"

"Sure…If Leonard doesn't mind me following your direction?" she glared…

"Oh…Not you two now…" Sheldon, sighing…

"It's fine…It's just…I don't …See…Why…He wants to be…So mean to me…Just cause I wanted to show Howard I appreciated him…" Penny, sobbing a bit… "Come on Sheldon…" she took his hand, leading him off, weeping…

"Penny…" Leonard followed.

There, there, honey…Bernadette patted the fuming Howard…)

"Why not?" Amy shrugged… Grabbing at Calvin… "Do you know what it means to be dismissed by Sheldon Cooperson like that? Not to mention putting my vaguely hopeful love dreams straight down the toilet…" sigh.

(Maybe…And, maybe not…Amy beamed as camera moved off…Eyeing the nervous Sheldon, being distracted by Penny as he sipped at his soda.

I mentioned Matrimony and he didn't blanch or run for the next train home…Oh… Happily trembling clenching of fists.)

"Do you want to come with me, Amy?" Calvin, kindly tone…Supportive embrace…

("Cut!" Sheldon called… "That's plenty enough with the 'supportive embracing', mister!"

Arggh…Howard groaned…

"Sorry…It's hard to keep him distracted." Penny, apologetically…

"Told you not to let him have the non-diet stuff…" Leonard noted.

"Why are you always taking him?" Amy eyed Penny. "Howard, I want it in my and Sheldon's Acting Agreement that you or Rajesh take Sheldon for food and drinks when Leonard's acting!"

"Amy?" Penny stared.

"That's fine…That's great…Whatever's comfortable…" Howard, grimly…Putting up hands… "Now can we please try to finish this before Security/Maintenance chucks us out?"

"Oh, I'm sure Glissinda the Troll would never turn you out, Howard…" Leonard grinned.)


	9. Chapter 9

"Sheldonopolis…"

Summary: In a dystopic future, Humanity's last hope is the visionary metropolis created by the genius of grand Administrator Sheldon Cooperson and Rotwolowitz, the inventor...But is it a paradise or a Sheldonesque version of Hell? And can a savior from the waitressing ranks of its cloned workers change its future?

Sheldon Cooperson, the Master of Sheldonopolis… Dr. Sheldon L. Cooper

Calvin Cooperson, his son… Dr. Leonard Hofstadter

Rotwolowitz, the inventor… Howard, the engineer

Amy, nervous Chief Assistant to the Master of Sheldonopolis… Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler

Penny/Futura, her android double…

The Creative Man…

Death…

The Seven Deadly Sins… Penny, the waitress

The Thin Man… Name withheld by request

Male Worker clones… Howard, the engineer

Grotta, chief clone supervisor for the Heart machine…Female worker clones… Dr. Bernadette Rostenkowski

Georgy… Stuart Bloom

Part VIII…

Supportive embrace broken… ("OW!...Amy?!" "Sorry, Leonard, but lets keep it professional here." "But it was just a little hugging…Part of the scene…" "Oh? The script, adapted by you, clearly states… 'Calvin takes her by the hands in a supportive gesture.'…I see nothing about embraces, supportive or otherwise?"

"Me, neither…" Penny glared…Eyeing the hapless Leonard…

"Just tryin' to stir up a few creative juices here, bucko?" she frowned.

"Just be glad my jealous boyfriend is busy getting set for his scene with Rajesh or there'd be hell for you to pay." Amy noted, somewhat smugly. Leonard rolling eyes.)

…Amy eagerly accepted Calvin's proposal… ("Where's the mention of my personal agenda?" Amy frowned at assistant director Bernadette. "I'm not simply grateful to get the heir to the throne to pick me up as a retainer here…I have my own agenda, ideas of my own."

Actors…Geesh…Bernadette sighed. Looking to the returning Howard… See what you can do with these people…

"You go, girl!" Sheldon called, now back from his rehearsal huddle with Rajesh and Howard…

Penny and Leonard staring…

"Now me, I would have recommending keeping a closet radical like that on staff, monitored…" Raj noted to Lucy. )

…Noting that she had long held ideas on reform in sympathy with Calvin's, while expressing hope they might yet persuade Cooperson to a more tolerant view, she firmly believing there was still a heart to be reached within that frosty exterior…

"I want to believe that of Dad, Amy. But…" Calvin sighed.

("Padme to my Anakin…" Sheldon beamed…Then blinking… "That's not a suggestion for changing the storyline, Wolowitz! Amy lives or I walk!" "I'd no plans to kill off Amy, Sheldon." Howard frowned…

…Though damn, now that I visualize it…He noted to Bernadette who nodded.

Tragedic death of supportive lovers always gets the audience going… "Maybe we can speak to Amy later…" she hissed.)

"…Seeing him in the office just now. Abandoning you and condemning the workers to their fates without the sightest hesitation… I can't believe it's my father there. The Office has swallowed up the man, taken his soul, shriveled his heart."

"Oh, Calvin…" Amy sighed. "If you'd only known him in the early days…When he and Rotwolowitz still worked together and he occasionally even heeded the ideas of others. On those rare occasions when they made a contribution…"

"When my mother still lived…"

"Yeah, whatever…" Amy, frowning at the notion of Helga…

"Amy? Didn't you like Mother?"

"Oh, sure. Charming girl, your mother…Brilliant biologist… Fine social planner…Too bad she abandoned her true lover, Dr. Rotwolowitz for power and glory as Sheldon's consort."

"What? Mother loved Father's closest friend, Rotwolowitz? No one ever told me that." Calvin stared.

"The Thin Man and his team have standing orders to make anyone who talks that way disappear…But I don't care anymore…" Amy sighed. "You may as well know the truth, Calvin…Your mother didn't love Sheldon when she married him."

"What? Amy? Don't tell me…I'm…"

("Please don't tell me…" Leonard grinned to Penny.)

"No…God…You're Sheldon Cooperson's son…" Amy, reassuringly… "I guess a woman like Hel Rostenkowski-Cooperson can 'adjust'."

("Hey!" Bernadette frowned. "Lets remember I married that Stalinist jerk of yours to save my honey.")

Calvin blinking…

"Well, that could explain Father a little…" he noted.

"It's just an unfortunate misalignment in Romance. It happens sometimes…"

"But Father'd always talked of Mother so fondly…I'm sure he loved her."

"I'm sure he was devoted to her. It's his nature…"

("The guy forced me into marriage, threatened to have my true love killed!" Bernadette cried, glaring…

"Sweetheart…Just a role…Acting…" Howard, soothingly…

"Well, tell Eva Braun there to back off a little…That last bit wasn't in Leonard's script…"

"Actually, no…But Amy did clear it with…"

Uh…

"You're casting me as a dictator's slut? Sheldon Cooper's whore?" Bernadette frowned…

"Bernie?! No…No, honey…"

"Fine…I'm done! Find another army of female clone workers and a new Grotta…" she fumed.

"Bernadette, we're just heightening the drama…I actually think it strengthens and deepens your character of Hel…You get revealed as giving it all for love of me, er Rotwolowitz…Though…You did come to love the better parts of…"

"Sheldon…?!" she stared… "Sheldon?!" Amy, echoing…

"And we once again, cut…Right, Howard?" Leonard sighed.)

"Well, I'm sure Mother loved Father in her way…She did write so…I have her diary. And I'm fairly sure most of it is unedited." Calvin sighed. "She'd come to appreciate his better qualities…"

("Ok?" Howard eyed Bernadette. "Better." She nodded. "You went off the handle so strongly, I coulda thought…" he began, grinning. "Thought…What?" she eyed him, eyes narrowing…

"Nothing…He thought…Nothing…" Raj interjected hastily.

It would be part of my character's job to smooth over these little personal crises among the leadership…He noted to Lucy. The finesse part of being a secret police chief…As opposed to more fun things like acquiring power behind the scenes through blackmail…Wiretaps, candid photos, entrapment with ladies of dubious virtue, that sort of thing to get the good dirt on my colleagues…And of course outright intimidation, though that's usually just for the little people.)

"Any woman would…" Amy nodded. "But, whether we go my route of trying to reach through to Sheldon's world-weary heart or your siding with the workers in some potentially violent and bloody overthrow of order…"

"…I'm sure this can be done peacefully…" Calvin cut in… "We just need to include the workers as true human beings with a stake in this great metropolis and the future of Humanity. A peaceful reformation…"

"They usually start out that way…" Amy noted. "Still, what the hell…I'm out of a job, so I'm in…And given you want to try 'reform' I suggest I start using my old contacts to start working on the reform group in the Sheldonopolis legislature? They're a bit of a gas-bag gabfest but some really do want more control of their lives."

Calvin agreeing that she should pursue that angle while noting that he wished to learn more about the workers and their lives directly.

"Where do you live, Amy?" he asked.

("Nice that after knowing me as Sheldon's Chief Assistant for fifteen years, he doesn't know anything about my personal life…" Amy noted.

"I'm the son, not the boss…" Leonard pointed out. "And even I usually have to make an appointment to get into Cooperson's workplace.")

"Building B, Block 99, Apartment 5G…" she noted. He writing it down…

"Go there and wait for me, Amy…" far away gleam in eyes. "I must go below, to be with my brothers and sisters…"

"Great…Well, I'll be making calls and getting busy with the legislature on a report of potentially useful reforms while you go investigatively slumming in the Workers' City." Amy nodded.

("Cut…Rajesh, just your scene left here. Thank God." Howard noted.

"Investigating the Workers' City… I.e., chasing a hot, yet for the moment, saintly, babe…" Penny beamed.

"But with some nobler intentions…" Leonard noted hastily. "I'm not simply thinking with my …You know…I care."

"I know, sweetie…" pat.

Oh, please...Grin to Bernadette. "And if I looked like some Eleanor Roosevelt/Margaret Hamiltonesque social reformer I'm sure he'd be right back at the Eternal Gardens chasing clone babes."

"Penny? Are you saying my heroine Eleanor Roosevelt and my greataunt/heroine Margaret weren't attractive?" Amy fumed. "You know, I have her eyes and chin…Are you saying…? You know Cary Grant once hit on Greataunt Margaret after "Wizard of Oz"… And we might remember who has the hottest guy in this room…No offense intended, Bernadette, Lucy. Though lets get real…"

Uh-boy…Howard sighed, eyeing the glares.

Thank God we're nearly done here for today… "Rajesh? Places, people."

"Why aren't you denying that remark of Amy's?" Leonard hissed to the frowning Penny… "About Sheldon being the hottest guy in the room…?" to her huh? Stare…)

Back to Cooperson's office…Where at his massive desk, the Master of Sheldonopolis had just taken decisive action, pressing a summoning buzzer.

"Sir." The thin, tall…(Oh, these lifts make me dizzy, Raj noted) figure in black coat stood patiently in the doorway that had opened via a panel along the side of the vast office chamber…Cooperson waving him over.

(Real power being a willingness to let oneself be ordered around in small things…Raj noted.)

"From this time today, I wish to be kept informed of every move made by my son…" Cooperson eyed the Thin Man.

"Sir. I shall see to it personally." Discreet nod.

("Oh, God…" Lucy intoned to Penny. "Doesn't he make you quiver…All that darkly mysterious energy…?"

"Yeah, sure." I think I liked it better when she couldn't speak to me, Penny thought.)


	10. Chapter 10

"Sheldonopolis…"

Summary: In a dystopic future, Humanity's last hope is the visionary metropolis created by the genius of grand Administrator Sheldon Cooperson and Rotwolowitz, the inventor...But is it a paradise or a Sheldonesque version of Hell? And can a savior from the waitressing ranks of its cloned workers change its future?

Sheldon Cooperson, the Master of Sheldonopolis… Dr. Sheldon L. Cooper

Calvin Cooperson, his son… Dr. Leonard Hofstadter

Rotwolowitz, the inventor… Howard, the engineer

Amy, nervous Chief Assistant to the Master of Sheldonopolis… Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler

Penny/Futura, her android double…

The Creative Man…

Death…

The Seven Deadly Sins… Penny, the waitress

The Thin Man… Name withheld by request

Male Worker clones… Howard, the engineer

Grotta, chief clone supervisor for the Heart machine…Female worker clones… Dr. Bernadette Rostenkowski

Georgy… Stuart Bloom

Part IX…

While there are no official restrictions on members of the two major classes traveling between the sectors of the global megacity that is Sheldonopolis, it is generally accepted that the worker clones may only cross into the paradisiacal upper levels on official business, with id, subject to intense and careful questioning by the security forces, both public and secret…And while the elites would expect in theory to face little such hindrance, social pressure doing most of the work in keeping them to their world, in fact, the security forces did monitor for any such unofficially sanctioned crossings by them as well. And in recent years, a handful of had occurred as various liberal groups among the elites, dissatisfied by the occasional official show tours, sought to learn more about conditions below. Few of these having succeeded in penetrating far, none lasting long, as Amy had noted to Calvin…Suggesting that the Thin Man and his team had agents in place in the Workers' City itself, at least in the Machine Districts…So it was not entirely without the risk of being detected and, politely, stopped and returned, that Calvin made his cautious way into the upper levels of the Workers Sections. Fortunately, even the elite reformers had chosen to go the safe and comfortable way via the standard entrances, never expecting that they might be interfered with or shadowed by the Thin Man's agents. Calvin, however, had wisely chosen another route…

…A route known to him by his father's tales of the early days of the megacity's construction…When he and his old colleague and once friend, Rotwolowitz had happily toured "their" growing metropolis via the access tunnels and even the vast drains, studying every inch of the work, often in the company of their mutually beloved Hel…

(Right…Howard noted to Bernadette…Picture Sheldon in overalls "clambering" through tunnels and drains…

"Literary license…Rather like the idea of some short and unphysically adept people engaging in heavy labor." Amy frowned.

"We fit the machines…And cost less to feed than hulking types. Pound for pound, we've metabolically the right stuff." Bernadette noted, grimly.

"Excuse me…I often tour the darkest haunts and byways of Sheldonopolis myself…The deepest bowels of the city know me." Sheldon insisted.

"As an avatar in a simulation, Sheldon…" Howard rolled eyes. "You also fight dragons and giant orcs and defeat the Galactic Empire in bloody space battles. Whereas in real life you couldn't fight off a bluejay…"

"Howard. It's cruel to remind Sheldon of that incident." Amy glared. "He loved that bird with all his heart."

"Thank you, Amy." Sheldon sighed. "I appreciate you understand what I went through then." Sad shake of head…

Of course I would've poisoned my rival's bird feed in time if he hadn't fled…She noted to Penny.)

Slipping into an old inspection tunnel, Calvin had made his careful way to one of the vast air shafts reaching to the very depths of the Workers' City. For now though, his intent was to encounter his brothers and sisters at their work…Learn of their sufferings and woes first hand. An investigative report, to be recorded on his personal S-phone…

And just possibly get a line on that girl…Who no doubt had much to offer…In terms of information as to conditions among the families, the children…All that sort of stuff…

He climbed down the shaft to the inspection entrance at the primary Machine District level and made his way out into the walk- and road-way around the main area…Reaching a door without detection and entering through a steam cloud of sweltering heat and humidity.

No weather or climate control down here…He peered through the hot fog…His fine silk clothes damp but still a dead giveaway to any passer-by but the benumbed workers trudging about. Only the very rare glance his way with a weary flicker of interest…

Still sooner or later a supervisor in more alert and fearful condition…Or more likely, one of the Thin Man's spies…Would catch sight of him or receive a report. He hurried into the thick of the working area. Clangs and brutally harsh sounds all about him…

The sudden piercing shriek of the shift change siren startling him…While the passing or posted workers barely looked up from their labors, numbly awaiting relief from their agony…

He looked cautiously about to see where one machine and its operator, apparently controlling some vital function, stood in isolation, somewhat protected from the view of the swarming hordes of workers coming and going to their various posts.

Brother…He eyed the weary figure at the machine…The said figure standing upright as best he could manage after a week and, today, several hours of back-breaking labor, struggling to move the mighty controls and keep the system in its delicate balance.

Collapsing in exhaustion even as Calvin reached him, trying to speak to him… "Brother…"

"Hey! Help!" Calvin called, grabbing at the worker as he fell…

Hmmn…One of the newer lines, I see…He eyed the face…

"You're all right, you'll be fine…" he soothed the poor frail fellow, crumpled in his arms.

"The Machine…!" gasped the worker… "The Machine!..." he pointed in terror, struggling… "Someone must stay with the Machine!"

"Someone will…" Calvin insisted…Stroking the terrified young worker's head to calm him.

("Uh…Howard…?"

"Cut…" Howard sighed, wearily… "Yeah, Stuart?"

"Does Leonard…I mean, Calvin…Really have to 'stroke' me? I'm just a little uncomfortable with that."

"Twenty…" Bernadette cut in.

"Stroke away, Leonard…" Stuart nodded, resuming position.

Why have you spend twenty minutes arguing versus an extra five bucks?...Bernadette shrugged to Howard's grateful beam… "Though if he goes higher tomorrow, that's it.")

"Someone will stay at the Machine…" Calvin solemnly noted…

"ME…"

(Really? A spotlight on him, there…? Bernadette eyed Howard. What, is he Jesus Christ? Or Angel from the old Joss Whedon show? "If it was good enough for Fritz Lang…" Howard noted.

Fine…Roll of eyes…

"That is brilliant, Howard." Penny sighed.

Oh, Lord…Bernadette frowned at Penny's eager face.

"Ok, Leonard…You can stop receiving your benediction and get to the machine…" Howard noted.

"Uh, sure…")

Calvin, setting the young worker on a bench, hurried to the machine and began copying the worker's movement as he'd observed for the past fifteen minutes… "This is it, right? Just set the big hands to the bulbs as they light up?"

Weary nod from the worker, now struggling to sit a moment…

Piece of cake...Calvin shrugged…

He'll think differently in half-an-hour…The worker eyed him…

"Faster…You have to reach the lights before they go dark…" he insisted, gasping a bit.

Boy, relieved of the mind-numbing tedium for a moment and already I got some ideas on how to improve this thing…The worker eyed the machine. I don't know who this clown is, some wealthy slummer…But if he'd just be willing to run the machine about fifteen minutes longer while I jot down some ideas for the foreperson…

Whoa, wait…Is he who I think he is? Blinking stare…

"You…You're Calvin Cooperson, son of the Administrator…I saw you on TV at your race…And on the news hour getting awards for being the son of the Administrator…"

"Well…I did receive a couple…Hey? I did earn my medals, ya know."

"Really? First place in 'Civic Team Player'?"

"That's a coveted award…My dad said…"

"Whatever…Keep moving those machine hands…!"

"Look, I came here to learn about conditions…"

"Uh-huh…" stare… "You needed to come down here to see we're miserable, underfed, and leading generally hopelessly brutalized lives leading to an early death?"

"Well…I needed details…"

"Keep moving those arms! Oh, I'll do it!" the worker struggled to his feet…

"No, I've got it…It's easy, I just needed to do it a couple of times…Now, look…I want to trade lives with you."

"Done." The worker eyed him calmly.

"You don't wanna think about it? Possible punishment, loss of your job, your home…Trouble for your family?"

"I swelter ten hours at this damned thing every day without fail…I'll be kicked out like a dog as soon as I can't operate the machine properly from a stinky job that pays me in room and board, plus just enough to pay the Sheldontax under the Sheldonopolis Revenue Service to the brutal Sheldonopolis tax farmers who squeeze us dry…I live in an apartment smaller and filthier than the dog kennels at the Eternal Gardens.,,I delivered pizza there once. And I've no family, I'm a new-line clone, we don't get the right to have families for another generation. No, I don't really need to do anything but thank God."

"Well…Ok…We'll need to change clothes…"

"Uh…Here? In the machine room? Fella, you may be junior lord of all you survey but my mother…Clone Artificial Womb Tank 18001…Didn't raise a rube."

"Just the pants and shirts…Come on, we've no time…"

Hmmn…I've heard stories about this one…The worker eyed Calvin…

Still, out here in the open…He sighed and stripped off his worker's suit…Calvin taking off his shirt and pants even as he continued to work the machine.

Hmmn…Gettin' a little heavy here…He blinked.

"You'll need this…" the worker handed him the final touch, his worker's cap…

18111, Georgy…Calvin read…Smiling and putting the cap on…

"Pleased to meet you, Georgy…"

"Likewise, sir…" nod...

"Say you look pretty good in that…" Calvin noted.

Uh…Narrow look from Georgy…

Yeah? And the next step is…?

"Here, take this…It's my friend and helper, Amy Josephine Fowler's address in the upper City…"

"The upper City?" Georgy blinked at the card with Amy's address…

The glorious, luxurious, temptation-filled upper City?

"I want you to go to her place and wait for me there…Just slip out to the surface, no one will stop you going out. Take a cab, you'll find my card has unlimited credit. Just avoid letting the police catch you and don't talk to the exit guards more than you have to. Tell them if they ask, that you are me, down to see how folks are after the M-Machine explosion. Checking for my dad, the Administrator…Got it?"

"I think so…Ok." Nod…

"Ok…I'll meet you there after the shift. Thanks, Georgy."

"Oh…Don't mention it…" nod…Stare round…

Free, free for ten hours…Whoa…Upper City paradise, here I come! Georgy beaming, hurrying for the exit…

("And cut…Nice job, people…" Howard beamed.

"Yeah…Howard? Could we run that one more time?" Stuart asked. "I didn't feel I quite captured Georgy as I wanted to you. Didn't get all that quiet desperation and sense of blighted, dead dreams? I really think I can bring it if you'd give me another run through."

Amateurs…Penny shook her head…One scene and they're spouting off like they've been in the Craft all their lives… )


	11. Chapter 11

"Sheldonopolis…"

Summary: In a dystopic future, Humanity's last hope is the visionary metropolis created by the genius of grand Administrator Sheldon Cooperson and Rotwolowitz, the inventor...But is it a paradise or a Sheldonesque version of Hell? And can a savior from the waitressing ranks of its cloned workers change its future?

Sheldon Cooperson, the Master of Sheldonopolis… Dr. Sheldon L. Cooper

Calvin Cooperson, his son… Dr. Leonard Hofstadter

Rotwolowitz, the inventor… Howard, the engineer

Amy, nervous Chief Assistant to the Master of Sheldonopolis… Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler

Penny/Futura, her android double…

The Creative Man…

Death…

The Seven Deadly Sins… Penny, the waitress

The Thin Man… Name withheld by request

Male Worker clones… Howard, the engineer

Grotta, chief clone supervisor for the Heart machine…Female worker clones… Dr. Bernadette Rostenkowski

Georgy… Stuart Bloom

Part X…

2030…

The rapidly growing central complex of what had just been christened "Sheldonopolis" by world leaders desperate to curry favor and a ticket on the survival bus from Project Director Sheldon Cooperson…Who had, with his colleagues Rotwolowitz, the famed inventor, and Dr. Helga Rostenkowski, leading biologist and social planner, demanded an absolute and free hand in building this last hope of a doomed Humanity…Where millions of desperate souls seeking survival labored frantically on the various caverns, factories, hydroponic farm units, and other critical infrastructure of the steadily blooming megalopolis. The Central Complex alone already spanning most of devastated California and parts of what had been Arizona and New Mexico before the bloody neo-Nazi Minutemen's Revolt of 2018. A series of vast holographic billboards, hovering blimps, and gaseous laser-powered displays overhead and throughout the complex appealed to the worker populace in the form of Sheldon Cooperson, urging them to evermore strenuous efforts…Promises for survival intermixed with dire threats, both the passive of expulsion and starvation and the active of harsh physical punishment.

But even the fear of expulsion and the brutality of Cooperson's panicky-government-supplied security forces hadn't quenched the growing discord and thirst for revenge…Every day, the rebellious mood growing… Finding some support among the upper ranks of former societal leaders and expert technicians and scientific colleagues who were finding Cooperson's increasingly dictatorial rule intolerable. More and more, now that the initial fear of death and extinction were fading as the great complex took shape, only fear of reprisals holding all back…While rumor and panic-mongering were taking hold, some claiming that most workers would be related to the barren wastelands after the City was complete…Others that the new clones of the creators being raised as the billion-plus workforce needed to carry out the global vision would not allow the surviving humans to live in secure comfort but replace all but the actual creators.

And Sheldon, being Sheldon, was hardly doing much to disperse the clouds of rumor… Arrogantly insisting there was no need to explain his vision to the masses or even fellow scientists, pressuring what remained of the world's governments to allow him full control over the remaining media outlets…Though few had shed tears over the banishment of the Fox News and Heritage Foundation boards to the wastelands…, blocking or ignoring attempts by the populace now numbering in the millions to negotiate some say in the developing megacity and its future. Even his closest collaborators finding it increasingly difficult to open his mind to other points of view…

Not that it had ever been easy…But the increasing vindication of his theories as the global ecosystem collapsed and the success of his efforts in the great work now underway had only increased his sense of superiority and mission…While somewhat stifling his critics.

Somewhat…

"Look, Hel…" Sheldon waved a hand as the hovercraft bearing himself, she, Rotwolowitz, and various leading figures descended into a secure courtyard next to the rising central structure of the City, the New Tower of Babel. "Every day, exponential growth…We've started the continental tunnels and the first factory caverns are already on line. This City of ("Sheldon, we can keep doing this all day or I can CGI 'ours' in." Howard, patiently. "Fine. But 'Sheldonopolis' the city is my concept and design…I should get creative credit on the end credits." "Whatever you like…Just say the line as written.") …ours is a reality!"

"Yeah…" she sighed, looking out from the craft at the haunted faces… "Sheldon, why must we treat the workers so badly? You threaten and bully the life out of them, even though their work is creating our dream. Even our more advanced technicians and some of our fellow scientists are feeling like slaves. They get no information about the future, no chance to discuss the direction the City is taking, and they're starting to worry…Even get angry."

"Hel…" hand pat… "This isn't the time for polite debates with our inferiors. These are the lucky ones…Billions out there…" he indicated the open spaces of the devastated landscape beyond the horizon… "Are doomed. We couldn't save them if we wanted to…"

"I want to…" Helga stared at him. "Sheldon? How can you say that?!"

"It's only the truth, Hel…" Rotwolowitz cut in. "We can't save most of the people on Earth…I wish we could but it's too late for most of them, and we, let alone the workers and staff here, are lucky to survive."

"Howard?!" a shocked Helga shook her head.

"Hel, you're a social engineer as well as a biologist. You know better than Sheldon and I do what limited resources are still available and what the needs are…"

"It doesn't mean we shouldn't try…"

"We are trying, Helga…All this…" Howard waved a hand… "And my letting Sheldon run the show for the sake of having a single, unified vision…"

"Let?" Cooperson stared, glaring…

"…is us trying. But we can't work miracles."

"They dug their own graves decades ago with their greed and their ignorance." Cooperson, coldly. "They were warned, they ignored the warnings and turned on scientists who didn't have the money or power to defend themselves. Think of all the colleagues we've lost to the mobs of fanatic, dimwitted dittoheads and teabaggers let loose by their greedy, incompetent leaders. How many of the workers here we're allowing to survive, let alone those out there…" he waved a hand… "…were destroying Cal Tech and other universities and scientific institutions a couple of years ago? How many of those out there knew the truth but for fear of losing money or power said nothing or actively tried to block all efforts until they realized even they couldn't escape…? Then they turned on their own leaders…Let them be buried with all the other countless examples of human vice and folly."

(Umm…Sheldon eyed Amy as they took seats for a temporary break in Pasadena's business center, fairly deserted on Sunday, Howard calling a cut to review lines… "That did seem a little harsh, much as I like Leonard's stealing from 'Forbidden Planet' to show Cooperson's decisive nature." "I did not steal, Sheldon…I creatively borrowed." Leonard fumed.

"Pressures of leadership…And it's just a film, Sheldon." Amy noted.

"Yes…I don't think like Meemaw would like me to act that way." Nervous look.

"Sheldon. If you ever become Master and Administrator of the world, I'll remind you Meemaw would want you to be nice…Occasionally."

"Thank you, Amy Farrah Fowler. Amy…? While Howard is going over Bernadette's lines…"

"Right…Going over her lines…" frown at the "director's tent", currently off-limits.

No reason we couldn't "go over lines", maybe out in the park across the street?…Leonard, in worker's outfit, hissed to Penny.

"We have our second big romantic scene coming…I want to keep the tension." She hissed back.

"Oh, I think I'd be better off relaxed…More focused…"

"Not now." Penny, firmly.

"Fine." Leonard sighed. Tension, yeah, I'm tense all right.

"…perhaps we should explore our characters' relationship?" Sheldon continued to Amy.

"In what way? Do you want to order me around coldly? I could do that." Eager tone.

"No, I was thinking…The hidden side of our relationship…I mean, you are supposed to be in love with me in this version, right?"

"Yyyyeah…" she blinked. "Hhhow…How do you want to 'explore' that?"

"Are you all right? You're trembling…? Oh, maybe I should stop playing Cooperson, I think my dark side frightens you. Forgive me my animalistically brutal side…It's my evil Cooper. Like Kirk's, my animal side must be forever repressed." Anxious look.

"Annnnimal side? Really? How animal…I mean, how interesting…"

"I shouldn't even discuss it. I know how you view me as a purely spiritual creature of the most rarified moral virtue, Amy Farrah Fowler. I can't wish to damage that view you have of me."

"Ohhh no…No…Please, continue…I can deal…Somehow." she put a hand under her chin to eye him. "I'm…Intrigued. Just how do we explore the hidden relationship…The hidden, romantic relationship…Between our animals…I mean our characters?"

"Leonard…" Penny sighed. "Honey, I'm not rejecting you here, my character is supposed to be virginally pure and innocent…Til the robot takes her place, then…Whoa, doggies…" grin.

"You did make a real angel in the first scene…" he beamed. "Ok, sorry…You're right. I don't want to spoil your effort here. I'm so proud of you, Penny, you're doing a terrific job." Warm smile, nod.

"Oh…Now you're spoilin' it…" she sighed. "Come on, I'll pretend I'm the robot faking pure me…I can tell myself it's good practice…" she offered a hand.

"So Cooperson, the lonely widower, frequently finds reasons to sum…Summon Amy to his rather Spartan, for the World City's Master, apartments at night…Hoo..How interesting…Yes, go on…Please…" Amy noted, urgently as she and Sheldon walked off.

Oh, please go on…

"Why are they all going off set?" Lucy hissed to Raj…

"Some actors just lack a professional manner…" he shook head. "Well, Lunch!" he called.

"Raj? You and I and that guy Stuart are the only ones here now…" Lucy noted, looking round.

"I'm up for lunch…Where are we going?" Stuart, rather contentedly.)

"Sheldon…" Helga glared. "I didn't start this project with you guys because I hated Humanity…We have a duty to save everyone we can, who's not violent or criminal or Glenn Bock…And the workers and staff here could be treated better. At least we could explain our vision for the future to them more fully…The Hands that build must speak to the Head that creates, Sheldon. Otherwise, in time…"

"Honey…" Rotwolowitz sighed. "While I agree, we do have to get this phase completed soon or no one, except us on the expanded ISS with a few world leaders, will survive."

"We start coddling these people, nothing gets done." Cooperson, firmly. "We'll have clones to do the real work soon enough, then productivity will reach a point at which those humans deemed fit to live in the City can reap its benefits. But the vision remains with…Ummn…Us… We can't let small minds start to interfere…"

"Fit to live?..." Hel stared. "You promised the workers they would be guaranteed places here for their work. Howard?" she turned to him.

Uh…

"We've done the calculations and until productivity and resources rise, after the initial construction is completed next year and the first million clone workers become available, the human population here must be halved." Cooperson, calmly.

"Halved?!"

"We'll allow them to colonize areas near us, whatever leftover resources they can scrounge or we can spare, we'll let them have…But they must go, it must be done, Hel." Sheldon, grimly.

"Hel, it's unavoidable…" Howard sighed. "Facts are facts…The Earth is dying even more rapidly than we projected and we can't support that many people here when the clones will use half the resources and do three times the labor. No one will be harmed…They'll just…"

"We'll just abandon them after promises were made…" she noted, bitterly. "My word as well as yours…"

"We'll do what we can…" Howard shrugged. "Maybe if the clones do better than expected…I'm doing all I can to tweak the templates."

"I'd rather see you put your efforts back into that android project, Howard…" Sheldon noted. "There would be a real gain in productivity and they could make much more efficient use of resources."

"But nowhere near as cheap and easy to produce as clones, Sheldon…" Howard shook head. "As a one-time investment maybe in the future when the clones have the City up to speed and we have surplus resources, but not now. Besides, I'm still years away from my version of the positronic artificial human brain."

"You said that back in college…I begin to think you can't deliver on this one, old chum." Mocking tone.

"We'll see…" Howard, light smile. "But for now, cost-benefit wise, it's the clones…"

"Agreed…For now…" Sheldon nodded…

"And I'm concerned about the clones as well, Sheldon." Helga frowned. "You and Howard promised that they would eventually be integrated into our society as fully human. But your plans for a rigid class separation…Physical, legal, and cultural, suggest otherwise."

"Hel, that's only temporary…" Rotwolowitz… "Right, Sheldon?"

Hmmn?...Eyeing Howard's glance at Helga…

Oh… "Yeah…Right…"

"So was the Nazis' Enabling Act to take over the Weimar Republic." Hel eyed Howard sternly. "I'm a sociologist as well as a biologist, Howard. I helped design this closed society to minimize the frictions during the healing of Earth…But I can't agree to the pattern Sheldon wants to set. I'd hoped you'd agree with me…"

"And I do…Of course I do, Hel…Sheldon plan, yuck, tooey…" he made a barking gesture.

"Hey…I worked out that plan over years…It's a good plan, survival oriented." Sheldon frowned. "And you said it was good many times…You once compared it to Issac Asimov's Hari Seldon's psychohistorical Seldon plan for the Foundation in the Asimov Foundation universe."

"In parts…" shake of head… "Remember? I had reservations too."

"Stupid ones…And I already showed you how stupid they were…"

"Sheldon…"

"You're both softies…" Sheldon frowned. "I love you both but you're softies…If Humanity is to survive there must be less 'softie' and more 'hardie'…"

"Some would say hardness and lack of compassion got us into this mess in the first place, Sheldon." Helga noted quietly.

"She got you there, old buddy…" Rotwolowitz beamed.

"Ummn…Maybe…"

("Do I have to concede to her here?" Sheldon asked. "I think Cooperson is brutal but right…"

"Cut. Sheldon, the idea is to establish that Hel is the one person you would bend a little for…That you love her as Rotwolowitz does…The seed of the weed that will grow up to destroy their old friendship and drive Roty, nutsy. In short, no flexible Cooperson, no insanely bitter Rotwolowitz, no Rotwolowitz robot, no howling masses led astray by robot girl…"

"Oh. Well, fine. But do I have to concede to her here?"

Howard, hand to his head, sighing…

"Amy? Penny? What's the joke?" Bernadette eyed Amy now chortling softly to Penny.

"Oh, I was just low-voiced chuckling to my bestie at the ridiculous notion of Sheldon loving you, that's all." Amy noted contentedly.

"But he is not for you…" Penny…Giggling slightly. "…Not…For you.."

"Are you making fun of me, Penny?" Amy, suddenly catching on to the joke, to Penny's startled surprise.

Uh…

"Are you making fun of Sheldon? I happen to treasure the memory of his making Leonard cry like a little girl in his display of raw animal jealousy worthy of a Marlon Brando."

"For the last time, I did not cry like a little girl…And Sheldon took me by surprise." Leonard, overhearing, fuming.

"Amy, if I wanted Sheldon Cooper…" Bernadette began…

"Yeah?" Howard, benevolently innocent look. "You were saying…?"

"Just…If I wanted him…"

"Howard, lets get moving!" Amy, grimly.

I want the bitch killed off as soon as possible…Right after it's made clear she never loved Cooperson…

"Guys, lets not fight over fictional characters…Like our boyfriends do." Penny urged. "I'm sorry, Amy…Bad joke…It's great that Sheldon stood up for you. Bernadette, Amy only meant to say Sheldon, like Howard, is a faithful type."

Ok, I'm a whore for my craft…She sighed to Leonard's stare. But we got a schedule to keep.

"Faithful like Howard?" Amy stared. "Hey!" Bernadette…

"What?" Penny eyed Leonard's look…

"So long as your placating the cast, you could tell me you know I didn't cry like a girl that time." He noted.

"Can I get assistant director credit?" she eyed him.

"For that you'd have to consult with the producer…" he smiled archly.

"Leonard…" she stared. "Lets not carry this too far ok, I'm getting creeped out. I don't sell myself, even for my career. You're hurting me, a little. It sounds like you really think…" wistful look.

"Oh, no…" crestfallen look… Pleading wave… "Penny…I was just…"

"God, I am good." She grinned. "But don't go on that way, ok?" warm smile…

"Ok. I was just kidding."

"Well, I much prefer to believe the producer would give me credit based on my ability. And that any romance between us would be strictly outside the professional arena…Eh, Mr. Producer?"

"Strictly outside…"

"So are we all better now?" Howard to Amy and Bernadette…

"Of course…We're professional colleagues and personal friends." Bernadette nodded.

And my husband is the director, so watch it, supporting cast member…She eyed Amy.

"Absolutely…" Amy agreed.

I'll be damned if I'm going to quit and leave her with Sheldon…Besides, Hel dies tragically soon and it's girl worker clones and Grotta for one Rostenkowski and Sheldon to me for the rest of the picture…)


	12. Chapter 12

"Sheldonopolis…"

Summary: In a dystopic future, Humanity's last hope is the visionary metropolis created by the genius of grand Administrator Sheldon Cooperson and Rotwolowitz, the inventor...But is it a paradise or a Sheldonesque version of Hell? And can a savior from the waitressing ranks of its cloned workers change its future?

Sheldon Cooperson, the Master of Sheldonopolis… Dr. Sheldon L. Cooper

Calvin Cooperson, his son… Dr. Leonard Hofstadter

Rotwolowitz, the inventor… Howard, the engineer

Amy, nervous Chief Assistant to the Master of Sheldonopolis… Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler

Penny/Futura, her android double…

The Creative Man…

Death…

The Seven Deadly Sins… Penny, the waitress

The Thin Man… Name withheld by request

Male Worker clones… Howard, the engineer

Grotta, chief clone supervisor for the Heart machine…Female worker clones… Dr. Bernadette Rostenkowski

Georgy… Stuart Bloom

Part XII…

The Café Sheldon, next to a classic-style old fashioned news and magazine stand displaying copies of the latest quaintly printed newspapers, among them the Sheldonopolis Times, The Daily Shel, The Sheldon Boulevard Gazette ("I think we can do better than a mere Street"), and magazines including Sheldon, Sheldon's Time, Sheldonopolis Business Trends, Global Sheldonopolis Report, The Sheldon, where, at a small table a tall, slim…Ok, slim…Man sits, face carefully hidden behind a copy of the Sheldonopolis Times with a pork-pie hat pulled low for further protection from prying eyes. Although, naturally, the said slim man, being Chief of Metro Security, prided himself on his anonymity and his mastery of the ability to slip seamlessly among the pulsating humanity of the mega-City.

("Sounds like a euphemism for 'I don't get no respect'…" Raj noted, a bit gloomily. "Hey!" Lucy swayed, fuming… "My boyz gunna get respect, you …" she waged finger woozily at Howard. "Sweetheart…" Raj, nervously. "Ok, booze is banned from the filming site for the duration." Howard noted to Bernadette. "Already is." She hissed. "That's non-alcoholic stuff she's been belting today."

"And what's with the hat and cape?" she noted, eyeing Raj as he carefully lowered the Sheldonopolis Times newspaper prop with its "Fighting Sheldons Crush Cooper Cougars!" headline. "He looks like a cross between a bad Rudy Valentino impersonator and Zorro." "His idea, he thought it was accurate for the film." "Howie, there's being true to the original and there's being Ed Wood." )

Here, effortlessly concealed by his skill, the Slim Man had waited, watching the waiting, parked car, an electric imitation of a beautiful classic Stutz-Bearcat, which had borne the son of the Master of Sheldonopolis to wherever the fool kid had chosen to wander off to, for nearly two hours, its worker clone chauffeur since patiently awaiting his near-royal passenger's return.

"No, no more coffee, sweetheart…" he informed the waitress stumbling ("Sor…" Lucy noted) over to his table. "I'm swimming…" a charming, yet ruthless smile.

("Hmmn?..." assistant director Bernadette eyed the working script… "He's going for Antonio Banderas as secret police chief…" Howard noted. "I see…Good choice, given the Zorro outfit.")

"One of our later clone lines, aren't you?" he addressed the girl.

("Lucy?" he urged as she froze, staring at the camera…Uh… "Why did you have to tell her it was non-alcoholic beer before we did this scene?" Howard eyed Bernadette.)

"Well, you're very nice, my dear. Perhaps we can meet again sometime to discuss a better opportunity for you to use your talents." He eyed her.

("We'd better reshoot this with me as the clone waitress…I don't care if we did add a scene for her at Raj's request….The girl is a lump." Bernadette noted, whispering as Raj tried to coax a response from the terrified Lucy, currently playing a deer staring into headlights. "Or, maybe not…" Howard, casually. "Are you jealous again?" she eyed him, rather pleased. "What?" he stared at her obviously pleased face… "Uh, yeah…Yeah, a little jealous…Not obsessed with the filming schedule.")

Hmmn…The Slim Man eyed the figure now approaching the parked car. Looks about right as to the fancy clothes and height…Yet…

Georgy tapped shyly at the door, the driver unlocking without more than the briefest glance at his passenger.

Just as that Calvin said…He thought. This should be a piece of that stuff the elite call "cake".

"Sir?" the driver addressed him by intercom.

"Uh…Take me here…" Georgy passed a card on which Calvin had written Amy's address…

Yeah, take me to this…Amy…Whoever she is…

Some bodacious girlfriend of the heir to the World City, no doubt…Oh…Yeah…Georgy, my boy. We are in cream City. He blinked as the car started smoothly.

Oh, God…What will I say to her?

"Calvin sent me…" Yeah, that's it…We're good…He sat back, feeling the plush cushions…

Oh, yeah…I could get use to this…

(I really could, Stuart thought…Sitting in the zipcar MiniCooper Howard had rented for the scene…)

He relaxed as the car pulled out…

The Slim Man with icy smile, watching and then signaling his own car…

In the center of Sheldonopolis City Complex Prime, generally ignored, even shunned by passers-by, there sits a very old house…Transported and reassembled from its original location in what had once been Pasadena, CA. Where it had once been home to the famed inventor, Rotwolowitz and his long-since departed mother….

Into that house today had come a very special visitor…A man who had once frequented the place often and long but who had not set more than a brief and cursory foot there for more than twenty-five years.

"Greetings! We accept you, we accept you…One of us, one of us!" the bevy of small clone assistants, male and femal e surrounded the just-admitted Sheldon Cooperson, Master of Sheldonopolis, who stood frowning at his old friend's perpetual little joke.

"Master, Sheldon Cooperson is here!" one scurrying up a spiral staircase called.

"Please wait in the grand reception room…" a short female clone beamed, urging him on…

"Say it, say it…" a chorus of clone assistants eyed their famed guest as he stepped into the vast hall from the ridiculously normal foyer…

"Right." Cooperson dryly. "It's bigger on the inside."

"Yay!" cheers… "Well, off to work… We are Rotsy's elves, filling Rotsy's shelves…We work night and day for very low pay, oh we are Rotsy's elves! Oy vay!" they sang…Scurrying off…

("Are we getting paid for this?" one of the kids in clone assistant costume groused. "No, no one's getting paid, including us…Like we told you, this is just for fun and you're getting ice cream voucher coupons, honey." Bernadette, sweetly. "We oughta get paid…" "You're gettin' free ice cream to sing one damned song and getting acting credits, shudddd uuuup!" she glared.)

Alone, Cooperson regarded the vast reception hall. How did I get talked into letting him have this property for no rental payment or tax? Still, we did have some good times here…Once…When we three were still friends…Hel, me, Roty…Cardinal Richelieu and his two musketeers.

Where did it all go wrong? He pondered, walking along…

"Hello, Sheldon…" A holographic image of Rotwolowitz appeared before him. "Intruding on my valuable time again I see…And strolling through my home which I demanded you never darken with your presence again…"

"Howard…"

"No need to try and speak to me…As you should remember this hologram is not interactive…Certainly not with you."

"Well, how did you know…?"

"It's ignoring you, stupid…" smile. "But it can hear you just fine. So, you're wandering through my home, wondering no doubt as you always do…Where it all went wrong between us. Yeah…As if you didn't know you son of a bitch…" glare…

"Hey…." Narrow look…

"Don't try to make some veiled reference to your near absolute dictatorial powers, old pal…" the hologram sneered. "I'm not only easily able to defend myself from the ummmn…'Wrath of Shelly'…But I don't care…I mean, what do I have to live for these days, anyway? But, seeing as you're here for some lame reason to do with propping up your regime, while real me keeps you waiting and stewing, let me take you on a little jog down memory lane."


	13. Chapter 13

"Sheldonopolis…"

Summary: In a dystopic future, Humanity's last hope is the visionary metropolis created by the genius of grand Administrator Sheldon Cooperson and Rotwolowitz, the inventor...But is it a paradise or a Sheldonesque version of Hell? And can a savior from the waitressing ranks of its cloned workers change its future?

Sheldon Cooperson, the Master of Sheldonopolis… Dr. Sheldon L. Cooper

Calvin Cooperson, his son… Dr. Leonard Hofstadter

Rotwolowitz, the inventor… Howard, the engineer

Amy, nervous Chief Assistant to the Master of Sheldonopolis… Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler

Penny/Futura, her android double…

The Creative Man…

Death…

The Seven Deadly Sins… Penny, the waitress

The Thin Man… Name withheld by request

Male Worker clones… Howard, the engineer

Grotta, chief clone supervisor for the Heart machine…Female worker clones… Dr. Bernadette Rostenkowski

Georgy… Stuart Bloom

Part XIII…

"There…" The image of Rotwolowitz calmly eyed Cooperson as it led him across the great Hall…Giving a grand wave and then disappearing…

2030…In panoramic hologram, courtesy Rotwolowitz's amazing Hall of Hypertechnology Home Theater…

A stunned Cooperson looking round the rising mega City structures all about him now….

"This is the City, just before…" he began…

"You betrayed your best friend and drove your human workers to rebel against your brutal tyranny?" the image of Rotwolowitz reappearing, asked pleasantly.

"But see…Watch…"

"A brain like yours should be able to for… ("Oh, come on, people…Leonard? I can't say this…" Sheldon sighed. "Listen, you…" Penny, grimly. "All our friends are doing this to help me. Now… You said you wanted the part. So, buck up and be an actor."

"She really should be playing the cruel dictator, don't you think?" Amy beamed to Leonard.)

"…-get, Howard." Cooperson sighed.

Flames, expansion of the Rotwolowitz image to double size, overbearing on the unfazed Cooperson…The Master of Sheldonopolis has braved hordes of angry workers bent on massacre…This doesn't… ("Arrghh!..." Sheldon screamed as Howard turned up the flame effect, a little gift of Leonard's to the production.)…faze him…

"I HAVE FORGOTTEN ONLY ONE THING IN MY LIFE, SHELDON COOPERSON! THAT YOU WERE A MAN AND HEL WAS A WOMAN!" the image cried.

("Cut…" Howard sighed. "Thank God I expected this…" he noted to Bernadette who patted sympathetically. "Amy? Please? Go and get Sheldon to come back out of the little boys' room? I promise there'll be no more shouting for a bit."

No need to tell him…Howard shrugged to Bernadette's stare…)

2030…The growing central complex…The temporary ground floor office of the Sheldonopolis Administrator in the underconstruction New Tower of Babel…

"Sheldon…I'm begging you…" Helga sighed. "I'm pleading…These workers, these people…We made them promises. Many have given their lives to help build our dream. We can't betray them now…I've sat down with Howard and the other experts…We can take in more people if we slow the construction and focus on food and energy production, for a few years."

"Slow construction?" Sheldon stared…Can't wait till this huge but insufficient office is replaced by my Chancellor Palpatine-modeled one on the completed top floor… "At this critical time? The world falling about our ears? And any temporary gains in food and energy erased by the loss of time in securing our habitable zone? Hel, please. I've already decided…We will proceed as planned. The human worker population will be halved and the clones expanded. The rejects will be provided with what I've decided can be spared and expelled from the City complexes world wide."

"Sheldon? I know what this is all about…Howard's told me. You want to be sure this City is complete in your lifetime…That's why you won't slow construction, not concern for saving Humanity."

"Nonsense." Sheldon rose from his desk. "I have the expert advice Howard does not and it says we must proceed or lose the critical point beyond which the oceans and land ecosystems can never be restored. I won't listen to such folly."

"A compromise could be worked out…I'll speak to the Council, to what's left of the world's governments…Howard will back me, Sheldon…They'll listen to him."

"They'd be fools to." he glared.

"Sheldon…This will lead to disaster…These people won't accept expulsion nor will their relatives and friends among those to be kept. There'll be a revolt, a revolution. You're putting our dream…Your dream…In jeopardy. Now is the time to reach out to these people, tell them your vision of what our new world will be like."

Roll of eyes, mocking smile… "Hel…You are a sweet creature. But you have no sense of what humanity is really like…Brutal, vicious, cunning as much as noble and striving…The world isn't the wasteland it is today because people are fundamentally good." He noted calmly. "The majority, the overwhelming majority of those friends and relatives won't lift a finger to save their fellows, not even those dear to them, if they think their own lives are in jeopardy. No, they'll mumble and groan and blame me but they'll accept it…And even fight to see the expelled go, if it means more for them."

Helga shaking head…Sighing… "I know the world better than you think, Sheldon. I know what people are like…And yet I still believe in them. I believe in you…And Howard…And our dream. Can't we let others share that dream? Uplift them to believe in it? Sheldon, you and Howard are the Brain of this city…The workers and administrators the Hands…We need a Heart to connect them. Let me try and be that." Pleading stare.

("Wow. Sheldon, I'm impressed." Leonard noted, at the scheduled pause to move equipment. "Not even a 'bazinga' over that 'you and Howard are the Brain…'" "Some of us are professionals, Hofstadter." Sheldon, smugly. "Remarkable, old pal…Keep it up." Nod. "He's just scared of Penny, isn't he?" Leonard noted to Amy.

"Like out of his mind." She nodded. "I plan to take lessons.)

"The Heart…" Sheldon eyed her.

("Amy, why don't you and I go for coffee? We're not needed for this scene." Penny urged.

"Are you suggesting I can't handle a love scene of torrid passion between my beloved and Bernadette?" Amy eyed her. "That I'd be unable to contain my natural jealous fury from boiling over in a cloud of animalistic rage and jealous lust? That I might explode in homicidal insanity on seeing Bernadette in those arms that should hold me and me alone? That it might drive me to unbridled violence, causing me to wrap these hands that were made to caress my Moonpie around that skanky throat of that beer-researching trollop like a female Othello?"

"Uh…Should I say…No? Bestie?" Penny squeaked, blinking.

"I accept." Amy, calmly. "Lets go. Howard, I'm giving you thirty minutes to do this abomination and no more…Unless you want me to stand in for Bernadette in the obligatory sex scene. Which you'd better or I might just burn the film."

"Sex scene?" Bernadette stared.

"It's how babies are made, Helga…You have Calvin, remember?" Amy eyed her. "Grow up, Catholic girl."

"Amy!" Bernadette, shocked. "Why are you being so mean? I'd never be really interested in Sheldon."

"Did you mean you'd never really be interested In him? Or you'd never be all that interested, meaning you'd be a little interested?" Amy asked, grim look.

"Take her for that coffee…" Leonard hissed.

"You take her…" Penny hissed back… "She might remember I've hugged Sheldon before."

Geesh…All the whining angst you do about love and look…My girlfriend is a raging lunatic over me and yours isn't…Sheldon, archly to Leonard.

I think I'll let the workers' mob tear dear ole Dad apart at the revolt scene…Leonard thought darkly as Sheldon moved to his mark at Howard's direction.)

"Yes, Sheldon…The Heart…The mediator between the Brain that creates and the Hands that build…" Helga nodded…

("You know…Considering this is supposed to be an acting exercise for my benefit…" Penny noted to Amy as they headed off, she looking back to where Howard was eagerly doing his Fritz Lang thing while encouraging Bernadette to "make virginally pure love to the camera".

"You, you, you!…Is it always and forever about YOU?!" Amy fumed. Penny staring, shocked.

"Sorry…Like I was saying, despite my rational understanding that this is only acting, my natural jealous fury and lust seeks a victim."

"I see…Sure…LEONARD!" Penny cried.

Wait a mo…Frown…

This isn't by the slightest chance some crafty way of showing Howard she'd be better at the evil android temptress than me? Narrow stare at Amy…)

"Sheldon…I've told you before…I love you both, but it's Howard for me." Helga sighed.

("Rajesh? Why are you crying?" Lucy stared. "Uh…Well…It's just so sad…Unrequited love and all that." He noted, affecting casual. )

"Howard…" Cooperson, bitterly. "What is it? The early Beatles haircut?…The better fit of body size?...I get that the ability to make clones is a definite turn-on…"

"The compassion…He understands what I'm saying, Sheldon…He's backing me for the people."

"He's backing you to back you into a corner and get into your pants…" archly.

("My mom can never see this film." Sheldon, at Howard's cut to move to a new camera angle. "Trust me Sheldon…" Leonard sighed. "No one but us is ever gonna see this.")

"He's not the lover of the people you claim, Hel…" Cooperson noted. "Inside he's as ruthlessly bent on achieving his scientific…" ("Sheldon?!" Howard glared. "Sorry…How could I help laughing there?") "…As I am to see this project through. I'm trying to save Humanity, a few of the workers' lives may have to be sacrificed to that cause. Howard doesn't care, period…So long as he… (Hee)…Can do his (Ummn…) work undisturbed. Do you know that it was he who suggested our next move be to replace even our cloned workers with androids? Enabling us to dispense with a human workforce?"

"That's to ease burdens, not kill people…You're wrong, Sheldon. Your single-minded ambition has warped you to see all people in the same light."

"Except you, Hel…" he put a hand on her ("Forget shoulder…Make it arm." Howard, hastily. "On third thought, make it he just takes her hand." "Howard…" Bernadette sighed.)

…Took her hand… "You are our Heart…Mine and Howard's…But I need you more, especially if what you claim is true."

"I'm marrying Howard, Sheldon…That's how it is, I'm sorry." Helga shook her head.

("What does… 'Been there, dude' mean?" Lucy eyed Raj.)

"I see. Just how much do you want to save those workers selected for expulsion, Helga?" he eyed Hel coolly.

"You bastard…" she slapped him.

("Sheldon!" "She's hurting me!" "Sheldon, I'm sorry." Bernadette sighed. "Guess I don't know my own strength…Please, I apologize. You're doing such a fine job, it got me all into the scene." "Well…"

"I know my day is made, how about yours?" Howard grinned to Leonard who beamed. "This slap heard round the world is so going all over the Internet.")

"Illegitimate child I may be…" he frowned. ("I'll do a voiceover on it later." Leonard promised a frowning Howard.) "But if you want me to accept your recommendation… If you truly are the Heart that would save these people…"

"You could do that? Force me to marry you, knowing I'd hate you always for it?" Helga, coldly.

"I'm prepared to gamble I can change your feelings over time. Hel, the governments have given me full authority here…I tolerate a Council and some questioning for the sake of avoiding conflict but I can move against anyone hindering this project. The security forces will back me to protect their lives and their families' lives. Don't force me to take steps against old friends."

"I was wrong to believe there was something of the Sheldon I loved in you still…"

("Sheldon? Oh, ok…Cut, again." "Sheldon?" Bernadette, reaching… "It's ok…Amy won't be hurt, I promise… And she gets you in the end, you know." "Sheldon, where the hell are you…? Actors…" Howard glared. "Let him go, honey…" Bernadette, gently. "I think he has something to say to Amy.")


	14. Chapter 14

"Sheldonopolis…"

Summary: In a dystopic future, Humanity's last hope is the visionary metropolis created by the genius of grand Administrator Sheldon Cooperson and Rotwolowitz, the inventor...But is it a paradise or a Sheldonesque version of Hell? And can a savior from the waitressing ranks of its cloned workers change its future?

Sheldon Cooperson, the Master of Sheldonopolis… Dr. Sheldon L. Cooper

Calvin Cooperson, his son… Dr. Leonard Hofstadter

Rotwolowitz, the inventor… Howard, the engineer

Hel… Dr. Bernadette Rostenkowski

Amy, nervous Chief Assistant to the Master of Sheldonopolis… Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler

Penny/Futura, her android double…

The Creative Man…

Death…

The Seven Deadly Sins… Penny, the waitress

The Thin Man… Name withheld by request

Male Worker clones… Howard, the engineer

Grotta, chief clone supervisor for the Heart machine…Female worker clones… Dr. Bernadette Rostenkowski

Georgy… Stuart Bloom

Part XIV…

("Sheldon?" Amy staring…

"Sheldon?" Penny looking him over...Something's wrong, a feeling of dread coming over her…

Sheldon'd never enter a coffee shop alone…The bean fumes might cause him to keel over.

"Sheldon?! What's wrong?! Did Leonard forget his inhaler?"

I knew I never should have let Howard have him do an actual running bit for that race scene at the start…It was just fine having him pose at the finish ribbon…Oh…

"Sheldon, aren't you on set now?" Amy asked, puzzled… "It's an important…ummn…romantic scene, isn't it?"

"Amy…Penny, hello…I got your order from what passes for a waitress here. She's even less well equipped for living than you." He noted, handing Penny a steaming mug, she blinking at him. "There you go…Now, skedaddle…I have to talk to Amy."

"You had me at hello…" she replied. "Of course I'd've preferred it 'Amy, hello'…Or just, 'hello' …"

"Good one, Amy…" Penny, relieved now, chuckled. "Of course, you need to understand the context of that quote…"

"Get out…Bestie…" Amy eyed her.

"Amy?"

"I know exactly what that quote means…I've watched "Jerry Maguire" on Netflix…And I meant it exactly that way. No offense, but I agree wholeheartedly with Sheldon, please skedaddle. Please, bestie? I know you want to protect me and you're the best of besties, thanks, but I can handle this."

"She can." Sheldon agreed. "Don't be fooled by my brutally cold and dictatorial movie persona, in real life I'm still that warm-hearted, easy-going, yet profoundly deep and lovable fellow who taught you 'Soft Kitty'. It's all just acting…"

"Sheldon." Warm smile… "I believe you are. You two take all the time you need. Howard wanted to go over our big lab scene in detail at some point anyway." Penny rose. "He's all yours, bestie." She grinned. "And I have to admit you may be luckier than I ever coulda thought."

Hmmn? Sheldon stared at Amy…

"Your projected front of ultra cool machismo sometimes made her wonder if you could ever be a proper mate for a woman." She explained.

"Ah, of course. Only natural." He agreed.

"So?" sidelong glance… "You have something to say?"

"Yes…And it may be the fumes from the dangerous concentration of caffeine in the local atmosphere here getting to me…Or my need to escape from here quickly for the same reason…I just wanted to say you are the only woman for Sheldon Cooper, Amy Farrah Fowler. Whatever the character of Sheldon Cooperson may claim early on in this production…"

"Sheldon…I know." Smile. "But it's nice to hear. Thank you. Ohhh…" she gulped at his sudden kiss.

"I think we need to flee this den of caffeine addicts…" she noted as he stood back, staring… "It's clearly…"

"You don't like it?" downcast look. "I tried to remember how Indiana Jones did it in 'Raiders'…"

"Then I take everything negative I said about Dr. Jones back…His actions in the film no doubt saved western civilization." Amy, solemnly… "Providing you do that again…?"

"I think…Perhaps…You're right, Dr. Fowler. We do need to move this to another location…" Sheldon eyed her.

"Oh, I concur…Ohh…God, do I concur…Dr. Cooper…"

Next day…The set of Rotwolowitz's Great Hall and holographic chamber…

"Just want to apologize for any delays we caused yesterday." Amy noted.

"Not…A problem…" Penny beamed. "Right, guys?"

"Absolutely…No big deal…Details, guys!" Raj, Leonard, Bernadette…Bernadette nudging a frowning Howard into a … "Yeah, no problem." Raj explaining the state of things to Lucy.

"You think the obsessive skinny guy had sex with the girl with glasses who looks like young Margaret Hamilton? I thought you said it would probably spell doom for Humanity if they ever mated, why are you and your friends?…Our friends…" she nodded to his look… "…so pleased?"

"Ok, great…Romance has had its afternoon off…" Howard, insistent. "Now we have a film to complete."

"And evening…And night…" Amy sighed.

"You ok, there buddy?" Leonard, to Sheldon…

"What?"

"It's just…You've been kinda quiet and I was worried when you didn't come home last night…" Leonard, high-mindedly. "I was just wondering if anything...Might…Have… Happened?" casual glance…

"Oh, can the subtleties, Leonard…" Bernadette frowned, coming over… "Sheldon, did you two make out or what?"

"Bernadette…" Leonard…

"Oh, Amy already told us…I just wanted to hear Sheldon's version. Sheldon?"

"Please, Bernadette…" Amy had come over… "That was in strict confidence… Don't embarrass my studly lover who performs in bed even more magnificently than on the big screen. Leonard, Sheldon was hoping you might care to spend the night at Penny's tonight, given the many times he's vacated the place for your romantic trysts?"

"Of course he will…" Penny beamed at her, hearing as she looked over set sketches with Howard. "I can be dressed in the chamber right? So long as my shoulders are bare and I seem to be naked?"

"Trust me…More importantly Bernadette will be there and you know there'll be no other naked women in my life while she lives. We'll do it all with camera angles." Howard noted.

"Ah…The magic of the movies…" Raj noted happily, eyeing the sketches…

"Well…I guess congrats are in order…" Leonard, smiling to Sheldon…

"Yes…Leonard, why did you always make such a fuss about this sex thing? It's a piece of cake…All that tormented angst you kept displaying endlessly these last six years. Heck, I just Googled a few techniques and got to it. It's really quite easy if you understand the basic principles. Perhaps I should show you next time you're having your usual troubles?"

"Thanks…"

"Not a problem. Just remember, the goal is mutual pleasure."

"Again…Thanks." Grimly. Sighing… "But, my question is, did you and Amy have a nice time?"

"The sheer bliss she always hoped it would be on her part…" smugly noted.

"I see…And was it…Acceptable?...On yours?" He blinked as Sheldon burst into tears…

"Sheldon? I'm sure it wasn't that bad…" he pulled him away… "Come on, Sheldon, you don't want to let Amy think…"

"Oh…God…Leonard…It was so beautiful…" gasping sobs… "I never thought mashing body parts together could create such perfect joy…It never seemed so nice listening to Momma and Daddy at it through the ceiling."

"Yeah…Well…It can be beautiful, can't it?" Leonard smiled warmly. "Now, see what you get when you let someone who loves you persuade you to try a new thing?"

"Yes. Further proof that I am a remarkable human being."

"Really…"

"Indeed. I take up acting for the first time in my life as a generous favor to Penny…And I'm an immediate success in the starring role. My first time in the proverbial sack and I rock worlds. Lets face it, Leonard…I have simply not even begun to properly tap my potential. You know what with my obvious capability in all fields of human endeavor and my clear suitability to be a leader as I've demonstrated in this film, I'm beginning to think I should consider running for political office. The world may need me."

Stare…

"No…Oh, God no…" Leonard, hand to his head…. "Sheldon, trust me, for the love of God and Humanity…" Leonard… "The world does not need you in politics. The world needs you to stay in Physics."

"Hmmn…Perhaps you're right…Politics is a rather limited field for my talents." Sheldon nodded, reflecting. "Perhaps I should be better off as the grey eminence behind the throne…Find someone of a certain surface appeal and charm whom I could use as my front while I run everything important from behind the scenes and leave the daily details of governing to my beard and assistants, leaving me free to do my more important Physics research. I just need someone as I say with a degree of appeal and charm, who's not making any valuable contribution to the world just now."

"Sheldon, I'm not going into politics as your 'front' or your 'beard'…" Leonard frowned.

"You? Oh, no…Leonard…Please…While it is true your work in experimental Physics lacks any real value to Science, it does provide work for people like Howard, those nice cleaning people, and university administrators. Plus, quite frankly…You couldn't win a vote in your own family, let alone the general public."

"You just keep giving me cause to thank you, Sheldon…Though I agree I couldn't win a single vote from my family." Sigh…

"Exactly. Yes…Penny would be my choice…A woman, of reasonable attractiveness when properly dressed, with a warm and as the average person might say 'bubbly' persona. Easy molded to whatever form I choose...You've seen how easy it was to condition train her with chocolate… I put a few well-chosen words in her mouth and I could get her elected President."

"What?..."

"Don't worry, Leonard…I'm sure with a little assist from me, you'd make an excellent First Gentleman."

"Sheldon…")

2030…Apartment of inventor Howard Rotwolowitz and Helga Rostenkowski in the elite living quarter of the rapidly rising central complex of Sheldonopolis…Officially dedicated just the previous year…All other potential names put forward by the City Council immediately rejected by fiat of the Administrator…

"So, did the Grand Imperial Poobah listen to you?" Rotwolowitz eyed Helga as she entered, desperately concealing her distress.

"He heard me out…I don't know if he'll listen…" nervous glance away.

"Well, he'll have to listen to the Council…And with us backing them…"

"He has the security forces behind him…" she eyed Rotwolowitz.

"Seriously?" Rotwolowitz stared. "He threatened to use them? To force us to go along? Hel, he may be getting pretty full of himself as Grand Administrator but I can't believe…"

Hel? He watched as she fled the room…Following after her to their bedroom a moment later.

"Helga?"

"Howard?" she looked up to him from where she sat on the bed, weeping...

("Explain to me why Bernadette's part as Helga keeps expanding…?" Penny hissed to Leonard. "I thought Hel was just a dead statue in the original film." "Howard and I thought some back story would be good…" shrug…

"Always nice to have the director for your husband…" she noted, pasting smile, a bit grimly.

Geesh…Howard said my writing was brilliant…Leonard, a bit downcast.

Surely he wouldn't lie about something like that…?)

"When did it all change? When did we stop being three people who wanted to save all Humanity together?"

"Hel…" sigh…Sitting by her. "Sheldon's got all the responsibility and you know him…For all his brilliance, he's insecure and the more unsure he is of himself, the more desperate he is not to show any weakness. We just have to make him see this is not weakness…"

"No…" she shook her head. "Something's changed in him. Something terrible's taken hold in him. I don't know what it is…Fear of failure, absolute power corrupting…Maybe both…"

"Probably both…" Rotwolowitz nodded. "Plus, lets face it…Sheldon's never very good at expressing compassion to people. He's fine at giving orders but it's always been hard for him to see people as people and not numbers. But the world needs him right now…I can't deny he's the best man for the job."

"Howard…There's more…" she eyed him.

("You know, she's good…" Amy noted to Sheldon and a somewhat annoyed Penny…

"I'm not like that, you know…I don't pressure women for sex using my incredible abilities…" Sheldon hastily noted.

"Really? Coulda fooled me last night…" Amy, arch smile to Penny who grinned.

"Oh, Sheldon…" she stared anxiously…As he sobbed… "I was just kidding…"

"I didn't mean to make you do anything bad, Amy…!" weeping, head buried in arms…

"Sheldon, please…I loved every microsecond…And it wasn't bad…" firm tone, moving to him…Eyeing Penny who took the hint and walked back to Leonard. Taking Sheldon into her arms…

Even if it didn't quite meet all my dreams, it was not bad…She hugged… "Sheldon, it was beautiful…We didn't do anything wrong…"

"What would Mom say…?" sigh… "And Meemaw?" he looked at his feet…

"First I don't give a damn." Amy, sternly, pulling back to look at him. "Second, they'd say… 'I'm so glad you're happy, Sheldon…I love you.'"

"Really?" he looked up…

"Really."

"So whatch ya, doing, head writer Hofstadter?" Penny eyed Leonard as he wrote on a pad. "Another long romantic scene for Bernadette?"

"Actually I was working on your transformation scene…" he eyed her. "I can see you're all set to go Evil."

She frowned but relented… "Ok, I deserved that…" sigh. "But this is a great deal for me, Leonard…I thought I wouldn't care about something like this but I do…I wanna be a lead actress, even in this little home movie."

"Penny, we're all killing ourselves to try and make you look good. But you can't blame Howard for wanting to do the story as well as he can…Or for wanting to give Bernadette a few scenes…However lousy."

"They're not lousy and you know it…" she frowned. "I wouldn't be like this if they were…Sorry if I'm disappointing you with my shallowness…"

"You're talking to the guy who once fought with Sheldon Cooper on the ground at a Physics conference over credit for a paper…"

"And got all over You Tube…" she grinned. "Thanks. So…Is there anything new? Can I have a peek? I might have some ideas…?"

"After I finish…Just wait…"

"So when do you get to act again?" Lucy asked Raj… "They all seem to be getting the big scenes."

"I have my big scene coming up soon…"

"With that sex kitten…" she frowned. Narrow glance Amyward…As Raj stared.

"Amy?"

"Please. I know her type…All sweaters and glasses and Miss Prim, till she gets you alone…Then…Wham!. It's that Wicked Witch look she has…You guys always go for the bad girls."

"Amy Farrah Fowler?" he blinked.)


	15. Chapter 15

"Sheldonopolis…"

Summary: In a dystopic future, Humanity's last hope is the visionary metropolis created by the genius of grand Administrator Sheldon Cooperson and Rotwolowitz, the inventor...But is it a paradise or a Sheldonesque version of Hell? And can a savior from the waitressing ranks of its cloned workers change its future?

Sheldon Cooperson, the Master of Sheldonopolis… Dr. Sheldon L. Cooper

Calvin Cooperson, his son… Dr. Leonard Hofstadter

Rotwolowitz, the inventor… Howard, the engineer

Hel… Dr. Bernadette Rostenkowski

Amy, nervous Chief Assistant to the Master of Sheldonopolis… Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler

Penny/Futura, her android double…

The Creative Man…

Death…

The Seven Deadly Sins… Penny, the waitress

The Thin Man… Name withheld by request

Male Worker clones… Howard, the engineer

Grotta, chief clone supervisor for the Heart machine…Female worker clones… Dr. Bernadette Rostenkowski

Georgy… Stuart Bloom

Part XV…

2030…

Sheldonopolis, though still a work in progress, is rising fast in the various former urban centers chosen as above ground eminences, particularly the great central complex…The outlines of the grand edifice it will be can already be seen in the growing spidery network of elevated monorails, roadways, and walkways which seem almost, and thanks to magnetic levitation, in part do, to float above and among the complex's steadily rising structures. Hovering aircars, electric trains and autos, local transport dirigibles busily filling the immediate airspace while barely visible, just shimmering a bit in the distance, a huge barrier shield of transparent sandwiched biopolymer, can be seen…The space between its dual membranes filled with biologic nanobots industriously filtering the air of the pollutants now choking the atmosphere beyond as the barrier maintains a temperate zone for the surface and airspace above the great complex area.

And providing an excellent surface for communication to the populace…A sky-filling billboard of sorts, displaying from time to time a few scenes of the projected completed megacity…Production figures…Exhortations from various leaders of the world's governments, now in process of dissolution. A generally peaceful dissolution, despite the occasional protest, given the motivation of fear as the outer world's decline into chaos and death speeds. No one, even the egotistical men and women who once considered their governing their portion of the world a career granted almost by a divine right, wanting to face the grim prospect of rejoining the hordes struggling for survival in the dying wastelands beyond…

Though some, along with less ego-driven, more genuinely troubled for the greater good, others, are seeking to wrest some measure of control out of the hands of the Grand Administrator as the immediate crisis begins to ease. A number, restively beginning to argue that too much power has been granted too quickly and thoughtlessly to one man… Some arguing as said for genuine concern for the preservation of democracy and liberty…Others desiring to regain the power they'd known in the old world. A few even attempting to make contact with what remains of organized society outside the megacity complexes…With an eye to acquiring leverage against Administrator Cooperson's growing power.

While many, remembering the horrors they've escaped, are generally fearful of any action that might jeopardize this safe haven to which they've come. Though they may resent the Grand Administrator's brusque and increasingly imperious manner to varying degrees and desire to know more about their eventual role in the grand scheme, they oppose any rocking of the boat so long as their place in the new society is secure.

And beyond these groups, mostly compromising the elite of the global city, are the mass of the workers, millions strong…Uncertain of the future but desperate to survive…Grateful enough for that survival, for now but increasingly concerned as rumors fly and some of the elite seek to manipulate them for various ends…Some well-intentioned, others purely self interest. And with the recent appearance of the first members of the new clone work force, many are beginning to question and demand answers. Fear is seeping in, stimulated at times by the renewed antics of once mighty and newer demagogues, seeking to use it to gain or regain power in the new society. A fear not quieted by Administrator Cooperson's curt refusal to engage the new society's members in discussion of the future…And iron determination to keep the shaping of the global city firmly in his hands. To date, the undeniable success of his efforts, backed by his famed if lesser so, partners, Rotwolowitz and Rostenkowski and the scientific and technical elites of the world, have kept protest down…But anxiety has been growing…

As a sop to public opinion, a beast Cooperson loathes but must tolerate at times…A Council exists, ostensibly to assist in the city's day-to-day governance and development. More or less democratically elected, the Council mainly acts as a diversion and sounding board for Cooperson who despite his aversion to politics has proven a skillful one…Using the egotism of a section of the elites to precipitate a struggle for control on the Council between them and the more democratically-inclined elements… While they tear at each other, fighting a pointless battle to dominate a powerless Council he is free to act as he chooses…His one fear in that regard being that the disparate groups might one day show some sense and unite against him.

But given his understanding of human nature, he's rather confident that is an unlikely prospect. Thus, given his credentials as a savior of Humanity and the genuine warmth and democratic impulses of his partners, particularly the much loved Helga, he is able to pose as a supporter of the democratic element who yet must try to placate all sides.

While meanwhile, behind the curtain…One man rules with more power than Caesar Augustus.

Whether with equally benevolent despotism being open for discussion…

…..

Naturally while bread and circuses help, the new Augustus must have the iron fist contained in whatever shade of velvet glove…For Cooperson, that is the security apparatus he has created/inherited.

Much to the dismay of certain former leaders, many of their security services have proven more interested in both personal and institutional survival than in loyalty to the said former leaders…Cooperson displaying considerable skill here as well in his choice of men and women to support and promote.

Of all, none better at his role…A combination of discretion, stealth, and the occasional brutal application of force, than the mysterious "Thin Man"…A man, despite his often startling youth…To the few who encounter him professionally, once known to several former leaders as their strong right hand in the past…

Now, with the mysterious demise or disappearance of those said leaders…A man whose past and present are but speculation…Even his name only known to the Administrator. The one man apparently to whom the Thin Man shows an absolute loyalty.

A loyalty repaid by a free hand and near, though never complete, absolute trust.

Now head of the megacity's security and intelligence forces, the Thin Man has spread a network of informants and more formal agents throughout the global structure, embedded among elite and worker alike, penetrating into the wastelands as well…

Though he is always ready to take the field himself…Remaining a "hands-on" sort…

Like Cooperson, he believes in the policy of Augustus…Masking one man rule in a sort of constitutional, even democratic, format… The fist being kept concealed as much as circumstances allow…Censorship used to the minimum possible…A contained opposition allowed to vent within carefully controlled channels…

But as to his real views on governance…Apart from his genuine devotion to the Administrator…And a vague reference at times to his appreciation for need to bend all efforts to the salvation of Humanity…No one is party.


	16. Chapter 16

"Sheldonopolis…"

Summary: In a dystopic future, Humanity's last hope is the visionary metropolis created by the genius of grand Administrator Sheldon Cooperson and Rotwolowitz, the inventor...But is it a paradise or a Sheldonesque version of Hell? And can a savior from the waitressing ranks of its cloned workers change its future?

Sheldon Cooperson, the Master of Sheldonopolis… Dr. Sheldon L. Cooper

Calvin Cooperson, his son… Dr. Leonard Hofstadter

Rotwolowitz, the inventor… Howard, the engineer

Hel… Dr. Bernadette Rostenkowski

Amy, nervous Chief Assistant to the Master of Sheldonopolis… Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler

Penny/Futura, her android double…

The Creative Man…

Death…

The Seven Deadly Sins… Penny, the waitress

The Thin Man… Name withheld by request

Male Worker clones… Howard, the engineer

Grotta, chief clone supervisor for the Heart machine…Female worker clones… Dr. Bernadette Rostenkowski

Georgy… Stuart Bloom

Part XVI…

2030…

Temporary offices of the Grand Administrator in the new Tower of Babel…

Now rather filled by the raging presence of Rotwolowitz…

"Did you or did you not threaten Hel regarding the culling of the workers, Sheldon?!" he slammed a fist on the unperturbed Cooperson's desk…

("Cut!..." God, that hurts…Howard groaned. "Sheldon, did you move the gel pack I had there?")

"Alls fair in love and war, Howard…" Cooperson, coolly. "Hel would be with me if you hadn't taken advantage of your time alone with her when I was out trying to sell this project to the world's leaders."

"Helga's always loved me, Sheldon…You're deluding yourself as usual if you've ever thought different. But it's one thing to make a play for your friend's girl…Bad enough, as it is…And quite another to try and blackmail her with the lives of a million people, you bastard."

("Is he enjoying swearing at Sheldon?" Amy, annoyed. "Considering Sheldon nearly caused him to break his wrist so he could chill his soda, I'd enjoy swearing at him…" Bernadette, fuming…

"Well, perhaps if you'd pay attention to what's going on on set and less to my boyfriend…" Amy glared.

"What?!..." Bernadette…Choking a bit…

"Just complimenting you on your acting, Helga…" Penny, desperately.)

"Fine…" Cooperson eyed him… "You've made your point, is there anything else?"

"You bet…" Howard took a seat across from Cooperson… Leaning forward, intently…"I am going to fight you on this culling, Sheldon…I'll rally the Council and the whole populace against you and if I have to I'll tear this city of ours apart, but I will stop you." Grim tone.

"All for love, I assume…" cool stare… "Impressive, though I wonder if Hel will see it that way…Given I can prove you supported the culling until I violated your sense of ownership over her."

"I never supported it…I accepted that some reduction might be necessary…"

"Indeed? Well…For the record…" Sheldon smiled grimly, waving hand over control surface to display a holographic screen before his desk… "The meeting of the 23rd of this past month between ourselves , the head of the security services, and our department heads, and the leaders of the Combined Powers, 8pm, this office…"

A three-dimension recording played, showing Rotwolowitz, Sheldon, the Thin Man, various departmental leaders, and the heads of the former world governments in conference.

"The exact figure hasn't been determined but it should run to just over one million…" Howard's voice…

"That's not sounding like you oppose the policy, Howard." Cooperson smiled…

Howard, a grimly furious stare…

"It's out of context, Sheldon…And you damned well know it…But go ahead and show it to her. Hel will never believe it…"

"She'll believe you pushed for the clone lines to be established…Knowing it was the essential piece allowing the culling to go forward…And the truth is you didn't oppose the culling till Hel found out about it." cool stare.

"We need the clones…I should have spoken out sooner, but I thought I could persuade you later..."

"To cut the numbers down, not to stop it…Come now, Howard…" Cooperson leaned back in his chair… "You're as willing as I am to rid ourselves of the troublemakers and problems among this bunch, you've said so many times."

"I've said a few of the crazier extremists will never be reconciled…That's all I meant, Sheldon."

"So you say now…" shrug. "Well, perhaps Helga's appeal to my better angel of my nature has worked…"

"Hardly the better, Sheldon…You're simply trying to manipulate her…"

"Whereas your motives are pure and noble…" smile.

"She was wondering what had changed you…It's obvious. Absolute power corrupting absolutely and causing you to view everyone in the same light as yourself. I've seen it coming but I'd hoped in spite of it all we'd remain friends…That we could help keep your feet on the ground…"

"I've done what had to be done to save what's left of Humanity…You've seen how even with the world collapsing, these people would keep squabbling even over the edge of destruction. Tough decisions have had to be made and I've made them. We agreed, once, that it had to be that way…"

"We did. And we appreciate that…But now it's going to your head, Cooperson…You're becoming as delusional as Josef Stalin."

"Stalin was faced with building a new world or pleasing the mob and old friends…He chose to build his new world…And accepted the cost…"

"And it all collapsed the moment after he died…It was all for nothing, the sacrifice, the deaths…Is that how you want it to be for you?"

"Augustus build a new world and it survived him because he gave others a stake in it large enough to convince to maintain the system…I'm doing the same…We agreed once it was the only way, at least until the crisis was over…It's not over…"

Howard shook his head… "We agreed a temporary dictatorship might be the only way to get this project started…We never agreed to it being the permanent state…Nor did Hel and I ever agree that we would be pawns in your little world, Sheldon."

"All right. You've stated your newfound opposition to our plan, it's duly noted. As for Hel, I'd say that's her choice to make."

"Not if it involves millions of lives, Sheldon…You can't put that on her."

"Likewise…Duly noted. Good day, Howard. I'll assume we'll be taking this up in more detail at the next Council meeting." Hand extended, ignored.

"Don't assume anything, Sheldon…With regards to Hel or the impotence of your Council. I'm going to fight you…" rising from chair.

"That's your prerogative. Thanks for dropping by…"

("Say they're good…" Leonard noted to Penny…She giving grim frown…

"Eh, everybody thinks they can be an actor…"

"Penny? Come on, I mean considering they're amateurs…"

Narrow look…Stalking off…

What did I say?…Leonard, staring after…)

"Pardon me?..." a younger Amy stopped Rotwolowitz in the hallway. He stared at the young woman in business suit, sensible shoes…

Vaguely remembering having seen her somewhere…

"Dr. Rotwolowitz?"

(Heh, hah…Sheldon… "Wasn't Amy great? She managed that without any giggling…")

"Yes?"

"Sorry to bother you…I'm Amy Josephine Fowler…I'm the new assistant to Dr. Cooperson…" she eyed him.

"My sympathies, kid." Howard, bitter smile… "The Great One's office is thataway…" he pointed.

"Yes, I know…But…" careful stare. "I understand you're opposed to the culling of the worker population?"

He looked at her, carefully… "And if I am?"

"I'm Dr. Cooperson's new assistant, not another spy for the Thin Man…" she returned his stare. "And I'd like to help, if I can…"

"I remember you…You were at the last Council meeting, fetching for Sheldon…" he nodded. "Yes, quite the new worshipper at the shrine if I remember right…I kidded him about it…"

"I admire Dr. Cooperson, yes…" she nodded. "But I have access to records on estimates of worker survival in the proposed resettlement areas. They could help you to make your case." She eyed him carefully.

"You'd take a risk like that?" he eyed her. "It could be mean dismissal, kid…And you know what dismissal means these days."

"Dr. Cooperson doesn't want to do this…He believes he has no choice…If you could get the Council to force another choice on him…He's just trying to be strong, for all of us."

"You haven't worked for him very long, have you?" he smiled, coldly. But, nodded. "If you're willing to accept the risk, show me what you have…"


	17. Chapter 17

"Sheldonopolis…"

Summary: In a dystopic future, Humanity's last hope is the visionary metropolis created by the genius of grand Administrator Sheldon Cooperson and Rotwolowitz, the inventor...But is it a paradise or a Sheldonesque version of Hell? And can a savior from the waitressing ranks of its cloned workers change its future?

Sheldon Cooperson, the Master of Sheldonopolis… Dr. Sheldon L. Cooper

Calvin Cooperson, his son… Dr. Leonard Hofstadter

Rotwolowitz, the inventor… Howard, the engineer

Hel… Dr. Bernadette Rostenkowski

Amy, nervous Chief Assistant to the Master of Sheldonopolis… Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler

Penny/Futura, her android double…

The Creative Man…

Death…

The Seven Deadly Sins… Penny, the waitress

The Thin Man… Name withheld by request

Male Worker clones… Howard, the engineer

Grotta, chief clone supervisor for the Heart machine…Female worker clones… Dr. Bernadette Rostenkowski

Georgy… Stuart Bloom

Part XVII…

2030…

A bit disconcerting, Helga Rostenkowski noted to herself as she eyed the blinking figure below her…A four month old, yet fully adult, version of herself…One of the first of Rotwolowitz's female clones...To meet yourself in this way. Still, having agreed the clones were a necessity, it was only right, she sighed, trying to return the nervous, uncertain smile of the clone, that members of the leadership contribute their genetic material. Though as Howard had jokingly noted, no one raised objection to Cooperson being omitted from the selection…His puss as well as his name already being ubiquitous throughout the growing megacity.

There really being no need for these damned things…She eyed a giant poster on the clone facility clinic wall… "Sheldon Says #132:…" large image of Cooperson pointing finger… "Respect Your Workplace, Don't Clutter!"

If the Council can't do much of anything, it can at least demand these be taken down…

"Am I ok? Ma'am?" the clone, #008, asked, cautiously.

"Yes...You're just fine…What's your name?" Helga smiled.

"I haven't chosen yet…I thought maybe…Beverly?" 008, shyly.

"Beverly? That's a nice name…"

"Thanks… Ma'am?" the clone eyed her carefully… "Are you…The Mother…?"

"Of some of you, I suppose so…But not really a mother…I just contributed some genetic material, a few cells…"

"The closest we have…" "Beverly" noted. "I don't like to think of tank 3 as my mom, really…" shy grin.

"I get that…" Hel grinned back.

"My friend Sally…#006…and I wanted to give you this…" "Beverly" pulled an envelope from the pocket of her standard issue worker uniform, a dark blue blouse and pants set with cap on which was stiched "008".

"It's a card…We made it…" she noted.

Mom…In letters of blue worker uniform cloth pasted on the cardboard box paper of the card…Hel staring…

She opened.

"To Mom…" a dried rose pasted and a sketch of Helga herself traced and colored in…

"We love you…Sally and Beverly, your daughters."

Oh…Hel stared.

"Did we do wrong?" Beverly, anxiously…

"Oh, no…No…It's beautiful, thank you…" Hel shook her head. "I've never had anything so beautiful…Thank you."

"I should get back to training if you're finishing examining me…Mom…" Beverly eyed.

"Yes, ok…" Hel nodded. "Have a good day at school…Beverly?"

Beverly, standing, paused…

"Would you like to come to dinner tomorrow at my place…You and Sally?"

"Is that permitted?" Beverly stared.

"Of course." Hel insisted. "You have the same rights as anyone…They are teaching you that, aren't they?"

"The teachers say we'll be granted full human status…If we work hard and help build the city." Beverly nodded.

"That's right…But you are human, already…They should tell you that." Hel frowned. "I may need to speak to your teachers."

"I didn't mean to say wrong…" Beverly, a bit perturbed.

"You didn't…It's fine. But will you come?"

"If we may, yes…" nod… "Ma'am?"

"Yes?"

"Do you really know Dr. Cooperson?" eager stare… "Is he a real person? Sally thinks he's like God, way up in the clouds…"

"Sheldon?" Hel grinned. "No, he may be starting to believe that himself but he's no god, just a very great human leader…"

"The Savior of us all, with you and Dr. Rotwolowitz." Beverly beamed.

"Well, we're all just doing what we have to…You're a part of this too, Beverly…"

"I hope to be…I'll work very hard, Mom."

"I know…So I'll see you tomorrow at seven? The Lower Terrace near the central complex, Building six, block H, apartment 15?"

"Yes, ma'am." Beam. "Thanks." Beverly headed for the door, adjusting the cap on her head.

"Thanks for this, honey…" Hel waved the card… "Tell Sally I love it."

"Thanks, Mom." Beverly beamed, heading out…

Hel looking after her…Twisting hands…

Another identical female clone entering on her retreat, looking shyly at her…

"Come on in…" she waved gently…

("I gotta say, Howard…" Leonard eyed the edited scene on computer… "That is great editing…I can't tell any breaks in the action, even though I was there when you filmed the separate bits." "Just took my cue from 'Orphan Black'…" Howard noted.

"Really gettin' in a lot of Bernadette screen time, aren't we…?" Penny noted to Amy.)

…..

The wastelands beyond the hospitable domains of the various Sheldonopolis above ground centers in the old urban zones…A dying land of brutal heat, dust, toxic chemicals, dead and dying animals, ever dangerous to breath air, and desperate, ruthless survivors, ready to join in any gamble, commit any act, to win a few more days survival…

In a patched together shelter building, air-conditioned and filtered, a roving band of desperadoes has made its headquarters…Stealing and cannibalizing from the remnants of civilization, enslaving and killing any they encounter incapable of fighting back. But, while most are content with mindless survival, living brutally from day-to-day, a few of those who maintain a kind of leadership have yet enough sense to know their days of fragile prosperity and plunder are fast nearing an end as they quickly exhaust what resources can still be found…

Unless of course, a new source can be uncovered…

A middle-aged, one-eyed fellow rises, his personal thugs requiring silence and attention…Employing physical means to ensure both…

"You all know me! The man who nearly saved us all by shutting the liberals and the scientists and all the troublemakers down…!" he banged on the floor with his cane. "The man who took you out of the darkness and brought you to this land of plenty…"

"Ted! Ted! Ted!..." the motley crowd cheered.

"Though we have been blessed, the Lord has demanded we fight for His blessings…Purgin' the land of the weak and the foolish…Usin' what Jesus gave to us as we wish, without any one tellin' us we have to 'recycle' or 'consider the future', 'preserve Nature', 'cherish the Earth'…Goddamn, I'll cherish Mother Nature right in her ass!"

Laughter… "Ole Ted, he's a good ole boy!" "Good one, Ted…" "O, Canada…" one joking, drunken voice…

"Who said that!" Ted snapped. "Bring him down here to me!" Guards dragging the hapless jokester, immediately betrayed by his companions.

"You being funny, punk?! Sayin' I'm no American…Like the smart boys and the liberals used to?!"

"Ah…No, Ted, no…Just…"

"Throw 'em to the dogs outside!" Ted waved to his thugs…Who dragged the man to a secure door and unbolted.

"Jesus, Ted…No…I was your friend…Boys, I was Speaker of the House once…" frantic plea…

"And you are out of the house, now, Johnny…" Ted chuckled…The door opened and the man was hurled out, screaming for mercy.

"Enough of that…We have business to talk…" Ted resumed. "You all know the liberals and the smart boys and their girls got all the stuff they've kept from us in their big city, over the way…That 'Sheldonopolis'…The stuff we by God's will should have ourselves…"

"Right! God's Will! Praise Ted! Praise God!"

"They brought the wrath of God down upon us by questioning His ways…Now we gotta take back what should be ours, the way Jesus intended…Boys?" Ted eyed the thug brigade assembled at the front of the shelter now…

All displaying assault weapons, grenades, the occasional rocket launcher…

"Ted…We've tried attacking those goddamn liberals before…And they whipped us…"

"Whipped us? Eh…" Ted eyed the speaker, a tall aging woman… "Whipped you, you mean, you Commie stooge…Live near Roosia do ya?! Saw it from your window, huh?! That sounds like a Commie spy to me, right boys!"

"Yeah, yeah…Commie spy!"

"No, Ted…You know that's just talk…Liberal lies…I'm a good patriot…"

"Out with the weak losers and the Roosia sympathizers…The Commies…" Ted cried… "Throw her out!"

Yet another mouth less to feed and at her age she's served her purpose…He eyes her pleading face…

After all we've meant to each other, Teddy?...

She's dragged to the door and tossed out as well…Howling…

Sounds of feral dogs yelping with glee at yet another easy meal…

"But, our late Sarah had a point, folks…" Ted, reflectively. "Those goddamn small assed sons of liberals got a lot of stuff in there…It won't be like killing a bunch of old folks in a nursing home for their batteries and food…Or takin' out a few billionaires' security guards in their underground estates. We need some support, on the inside…And now, thanks to that Administrator, the great Stalin Satan himself, Sheldon Cooperson, we got some…" he turned to a grubby looking man in Sheldonopolis circa 2030 worker outfit.

"Tell us your story, friend…" he waved the man to his side…

"Right, thanks Ted…Well…" the man sighed. "We've worked to build that city of Sheldon's…"

"Satan's Godless temple!" a cry…

"…Sure, yeah…" the man shrugged. "And now Cooperson's going to be sending most of us outside…Abandoning us so he can put his clones to work at our jobs…"

"Stealin' American jobs, that's what they do…" Ted noted.

"He promised us we'd be safe…When we signed on…" the man fumed. "We listened to him, trusted him…"

"Just the way we trusted them scientists before they tricked us by actually being right...Instead of lyin' for advantage like a regular guy…" Ted noted.

"Right…Sure…" the man blinked…

Well, too late to back out now…And these nuts may be our only hope to get Cooperson to keep us…If they attack, he needs us…If they succeed, we should be able to kill em all after we take over the city with their help...Some damage, natch but better that than the wastelands, even if Cooperson provides some help.

"So, some of us…" the man continued.

"All…It's a liberal lie that anyone doesn't oppose Hitler Cooperson…" Ted insisted.

Sidelong glance…Ted giving narrow glare.

"Yeah…Sure…All of us…Have gotten together and are planning to try and stop the exodus…The culling, some call it. But we need help…"

"Help? Ted?" a cry…

"I know…I know…" Ted put up a hand… "We don't 'help'…Our sacred doctrine is individual responsibility and screw the other bastard before she tries to screw you…Like the bitch could, ha, ha…"

Ha, ha, hah…Crowd.

"…but this is strictly business, folks…And you know the business of America is business…"

Puzzled looks…

Just cheer…The thugs, glaring…

Cheers…

"We'll do a partnership with our new friends to take that goddamn Hitler liberal Stalin Sheldon out and put an end to the abomination on God's Earth that is Sheldonopolis…!"

Uh…This is only one complex of a world-wide…Eh, why bother trying to explain to them…The worker rep shrugged to himself.

Cheers…

"And then what, Ted?" one call…

"What?" he stared.

Uh-oh…The worker rep gulped.

Had to be one still functioning mind in the bunch…

"If we destroy Sheldonopolis, what'll we do later on?"

"You talking liberal spew about 'long-term plannin', fella?" Ted eyed the speaker…

"No…Uh, no, Ted…" 

"Out with the damned liberal social planner…!" Ted cried. The thugs closing in…


	18. Chapter 18

"Sheldonopolis…"

Summary: In a dystopic future, Humanity's last hope is the visionary metropolis created by the genius of grand Administrator Sheldon Cooperson and Rotwolowitz, the inventor...But is it a paradise or a Sheldonesque version of Hell? And can a savior from the waitressing ranks of its cloned workers change its future?

Sheldon Cooperson, the Master of Sheldonopolis… Dr. Sheldon L. Cooper

Calvin Cooperson, his son… Dr. Leonard Hofstadter

Rotwolowitz, the inventor… Howard, the engineer

Hel… Dr. Bernadette Rostenkowski

Amy, nervous Chief Assistant to the Master of Sheldonopolis… Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler

Penny/Futura, her android double…

The Creative Man…

Death…

The Seven Deadly Sins… Penny, the waitress

The Thin Man… Name withheld by request

Male Worker clones… Howard, the engineer

Grotta, chief clone supervisor for the Heart machine…Female worker clones… Dr. Bernadette Rostenkowski

Georgy… Stuart Bloom

Part XVIII…

2030…7:30am, Pacific time…

The great and growing central complex that is the heart of the megacity…

Where lines of workers and staffers of various sorts are hurrying to find a good vantage point to observe...The best being in the stands and grounds of the newly completed Sheldon Stadium…The first major piece of the mammoth recreational center in progress, "The Club of the Sons…" ("…And Daughters? What about daughters?" Hel had fumed while waiting with Rotwolowitz at the dedication ceremony. "That goes without saying, Hel." "Grrr…" "Look, I told Sheldon to put it on the sign but he claimed time didn't allow…It will be open to the gals as well." "Gals?" "Dames, chicks, girls, uh…gurls?...Ladies? Ladies, right.")

Home of the Fighting Sheldons and Cooperson Crows soccer/baseball/basketball/hockey teams, sponsored by the patronage of the Administrator…Other older teams of course still functioning in the various global centers…Where they could manage to find a place to play…And patronage…

Not that the Administrator went in for competitive sports per se, beyond the manly challenges of holographic video archery, holographic video robot boxing, holographic video tennis …But circuses being as important a part of political control as bread…

Though he drew the line at patronizing football, leaving its major support to be found among the Council's fans …To his teams' great relief as they found the necessity of playing in four different sports quite enough…

Not to mention the Sheldonopolis Ice Capades in which they were required to perform seasonally…Particularly required as the Administrator was indeed fond of his Capades. Especially the Grand History of the City Pageant, an annual event, complete with a giant head of Sheldon, skating alone at its head to lead the procession.

But today's event was citywide…Global citywide, with crowds in all the multiple centers forming at the same time around the world. For the weekly "Word from the Administrator", a mix of announcements, pronouncements, and exhortations from Cooperson himself to the populace. Scheduled for the break before the day shift so as to minimize work disruption…After all, what better sauce to one's hastily gulped breakfast shake than a word from that glorious Savior of Humanity…

Whose beaming face even now appeared, direct from his temporary office on the shimmering inner surface of the great city barriers, all over the world…

"Citizens of Sheldonopolis! I send you greeting on this as usual 73.5% (due to hydration, recirculation, and psychological needs for the occasional rainy day…) of the time lovely day! All remains well in our great and glorious world city and the work of interconnection and construction proceeds well. Uh…Good job, all. I couldn't be saving the world without you."

Helga, in the office with Rotwolowitz and others watching Cooperson addressing the cameras, rolled eyes…

Rotwolowitz, noticing, smiled… "Hey, at least he listened and remembered the 'good job' you suggested this time."

"…Much remains to be done, but don't worry…I've got it all laid out right here…" Sheldon's massive image tapping forehead with forefinger...

Staffers eyeing each other…

"So no need for any concerns…Or talk of mass deportations…Just keep doing whatever it is you're doing and watch us grow. Remember our city slogan 'I'll handle it.'" Cut to beaming image of Sheldon… "He'll handle it." Boldly proclaimed below… "Because I will…Just fine. Ok, back to it. Lets move it…Chop,chop!" wave of hands… "Just kidding, you're doing a fine job, people…But lets get on with it. Bye." Brief wave.

Announcer…Repressing sigh… "That was Administrator Sheldon Cooperson, speaking to you live from the Tower of Babel, central Sheldonopolis, coordinates 0,0,0."

"Nice to know the Borg will know where to head when they come to sign on as workers for their new Queen…" Rotwolowitz grinned.

"Hey…Hel…Howard…Uh, guys…" Sheldon had come over…

We've worked our hearts out for you, most of us for ten years, and you don't know any of our names? The team of brutally overworked staffers…Among them a new member, new appointed junior assistant to the Administrator, Dr. Amy Josephine Fowler…Collectively sighed.

"Nice job, Sheldon…" Rotwolowitz, archly…

"Sheldon…" Hel, carefully…Avoiding direct stare…

"I thought it was time to put a little more passion into the weekly message, fire up the troops a bit…" Cooperson noted.

"You didn't tell them anything, Sheldon." Hel frowned. "Everyone was waiting to hear about the deportations…"

"But I did…" he blinked. "I told them all not to worry and leave it to me."

"Sheldon…That's hardly comforting, their lives at stake…" Hel shook her head.

"All the more reason not to trouble them with the details…" Sheldon shrugged. "The buck stops with the Grand Administrator…That's what the people want. Strong and decisive leadership…"

"I think they'd like some say in their future…And to be told what's going on." Helga frowned.

"Yeah, Sheldon…A lot of us would like that…" Rotwolowitz eyed him… "To know what exactly is going on…"

Grim look…

"Well, you know…Some of it…" Cooperson noted, moving to his chair…

Not a perfect spot he frowned, eyeing his staffers coolly…

Even if this is a temporary office no reason to slack it on accommodations, people…

But I suppose even I must make sacrifices…Temporarily…

"…And as for the workers…" shrug… "What good does it do them to know half of them are randomly to be doomed…"

"Sheldon!" Hel glared. "We've told you there's no need to send them away, we can slow construction just enough to allow food and energy production to be raised to cover them."

"Temporarily…But soon we'd have problems…No, Hel…" Sheldon shook head. "I've analyzed all the data…You, there…Hey!" he signaled to Amy who blanched…

Me?!

"The main computer, the production graphs I had ordered…" he commanded. "Display!"

"Uh, yes, Dr. Cooperson." Amy rushed to the main console…Avoiding the narrow-eyed views of multiple staff…

A new favorite, eh?

Toby, the former fair-haired boy sulking in his cubicle chair…

One day you're the one "hey, you'd!" by the Man…The next, you're nobody…

A holographic image came up in the center of the room…A three-dimensional series of graphs…

"As you can see…I'm right as always…" Sheldon noted. "Any of the possible projections for changing the production schedule would severely compromise the critical effort to preserve the oceans at the most basic biolevels. And if we completely lose the oceans, we may as well start building a space ark…"

Click to show space ark… "Which I have several designs for but only as a last-ditch option…I doubt we'd make it through the Ort Cloud enroute to another star system and Mars couldn't handle more than a few thousand for centuries."

Nice…I like the way he incorporates the classic Enterprise in that one…The Thin Man, watching with his team from chairs at the back of the group…

The better to ferret out possible dissents within the administration…

Though it is nice to be acknowledged as part of the inner circle…We who also serve by sitting and watching…Watching…Watching…

Plus the occasional physical intimidation, blackmail, set-up…

"Tea, ma'am?" Amy had brought out the customary tea service…The acknowledged social convention, one of several carved in a granite plaque on the walls of the Tower corridors in order to familiarize new and perhaps socially neophytic member of the staff.

"Thanks, no." Hel shook head.

Several staffers eyeing her…All sipping from their cups.

Only one of the Big Three could defy Sheldonian social convention like that.

"Sheldon, Howard and I will not accept this…" Hel insisted. "You're going too far, too fast…"

"The clones are up and running…" Sheldon shrugged… "In a month we could have 300,000 ready to work at a fraction of the cost in food and energy…Right, Howard?" he glanced to Rotwolowitz.

"Technically, but…"

"But you agreed they'd allow for the reduction when we discussed this…And that you could get production up that quickly." Sheldon noted.

Rotwolowitz, annoyed look.

We weren't supposed to talk about that…Ole pal…In front of Hel…

"Wait?" she turned to Howard. "You knew about this? Before? You discussed it with Sheldon? And not me?"

"Preliminary talks, just speculation, honey." He sighed.

"I can't believe you'd keep that from me…" she shook her head.

"Lord knows what else he does…" Sheldon, a bit archly…Drawing narrow look from Rotwolowitz…

"But the issue at hand is what's to be done about the workers' move to organize…Slim?" he turned to the Thin Man…

(That's me…Slim…Raj beamed over to Lucy off set. A solidly manly nickname for a Man of Mystery…)

"Hel…" Rotwolowitz tried…

"I trusted you on this…" she muttered, hissing… "If you'd told me straight out…We'd've had time to better organize, coordinate with the workers…"

"We can still do all that…We'll stop this…" he noted, placating…

The Thin Man had come out to stand by Sheldon…The group eyeing him cautiously…With good reason…

A number of outspoken staffers and leading executives over time since the founding of City Security having been either canned on various charges of corruption and sent into the workforce or simply, and mysteriously, disappeared under his security reign…

With rumors abounding as to their fates…And of the methods used to extract information…

"Yes, Administrator. There have been a number of reports that some of the worker force have received information regarding the upcoming actions by the City government and are organizing to prevent it, perhaps by force as well as public protest." The Thin Man noted calmly. "Steps are being taken to identify the leaders…And their possible contacts with some of the bands roaming the wastelands near several city complexes."

"Possible revolution in the air, people." Cooperson frowned. "We must be extra vigilant to show a firm front against our enemies at this time. The action is regrettable but essential…And I intend to see that the Council gives us its full support. Therefore there must be no public dissent among us in the inner administration…" he looked round the office.

"Are you telling us not to protest to the Council?" Helga fumed, rising.

"I think it would be best not to…" Cooperson shrugged. "I can't keep you from disagreeing privately but I think it would best to keep disagreement private. And given the security force chief's assessment, I've consulted the governmental leaders in conference and they've agreed to allow me to invoke emergency powers for the period of the operation. While I respect your concerns, I'm afraid I must ask you and Howard, Helga, to accept temporary house confinement and to make no contact with members of the City Council, which is hereby suspended for the period of the operation."

"Sheldon!" Rotwolowitz stood, furious…

Goddamn him…Always one step ahead…

"If you want your clones…" he warned…

"We have them, thanks…" Sheldon smiled coldly. "But this is only temporary, people…All your rights will be restored after the crisis is over. Oh, and the following Council members and administrators will also be subject to home confinement and are being informed so now by members of the security forces…Slim?"

The Thin Man reading off a list of names…

"Sheldon, you bastard! This is a dictatorship, people!" Helga cried…

"A temporary one…Like the old Romans during crises…" Sheldon, shrugging… "It's for the best, Hel…If I delay, there can only be more violence…"

"More…?" she stared…

"Slip of the tongue…Violence…" he beamed. As various security personnel from the group in the rear began taking positions by those on the list, including Hel and Rotwolowitz…

"If you, please, ma'am…" one female team addressed Hel in quiet tones…Two other male members beside her…

"This isn't over, Cooperson!" Rotwolowitz fumed…Three likewise by him.


	19. Chapter 19

"Sheldonopolis…"

Summary: In a dystopic future, Humanity's last hope is the visionary metropolis created by the genius of grand Administrator Sheldon Cooperson and Rotwolowitz, the inventor...But is it a paradise or a Sheldonesque version of Hell? And can a savior from the waitressing ranks of its cloned workers change its future?

Sheldon Cooperson, the Master of Sheldonopolis… Dr. Sheldon L. Cooper

Calvin Cooperson, his son… Dr. Leonard Hofstadter

Rotwolowitz, the inventor… Howard, the engineer

Hel… Dr. Bernadette Rostenkowski

Amy, nervous Chief Assistant to the Master of Sheldonopolis… Dr. Amy Farrah Fowler

Penny/Futura, her android double…

The Creative Man…

Death…

The Seven Deadly Sins… Penny, the waitress

The Thin Man… Name withheld by request

Male Worker clones… Howard, the engineer

Grotta, chief clone supervisor for the Heart machine…Female worker clones… Dr. Bernadette Rostenkowski

Georgy… Stuart Bloom

Ted, former US Senator and leader of Droog marauder band in 2030… Toby Loobenfeld

Part XIX…

Rotwolowitz's holographic vision of the past…Largely focused on his and Cooperson's mutual past…

2030…

Apartment of Hel Rostenkoski and Rotwolowitz…Sheldonopolis Central Complex…

Where the two were currently under detention, forbidden to leave for the duration of the "emergency"…A duration to be determined at the discretion of Administrator Cooperson…Security services guard at their door

But whatever anger Hel felt at their former partner Cooperson's brutal imposition of martial law to silence dissent during the action to cull the number of the original workforce…She had plenty left over for Rotwolowitz…

"Hel…It was only academic discussion…" he pleaded…

"You knew about his plans for months and didn't say a word…You supported him…Until he indicated a desire to get into my pants, then you were suddenly all aflame to fight his plans…" she frowned. "I can't believe you gave me no clue. Even when we'd heard the first rumors…I knew Sheldon was no longer willing to be a partner in all this but I believed you were, at least."

"Look, the way Sheldon put it to me…You know him and his analytical mind…As a simple production and resource problem…I didn't see the people behind the numbers at first. But now, thanks to you…"

"Thanks to Sheldon's dictatorial assgrab you mean…"

("Amy…" anxiously… "I only wish it were so, Sheldon…" "What?" "Nothing…" sigh…)

"We can sit and argue about it or we can try to come up with something…" Rotwolowitz eyed her.

"Like what?" she sighed. "He's gone totally over the edge, Howard…And what's left of the governments are too terrified of what might happen without him and his vision to give some hope to stand up to him."

"The world kneeling before Sheldon…Well, he has his dream…" Rotwolowitz noted… "Pity he now isn't satisfied with that that he has to try and steal mine."

"This is about more than you or us, Howard…" Hel frowned.

"I know that…" he sighed. Both looking to the door as the guard on the other side politely knocked.. .

"You have visitors…" he noted…

"Our dinner guests…" Hel shrugged. "It's ok, send them in…" she called, eyeing Howard with faint smile. "May as well do dinner with the kids…"

….…

Central cloning facility #2, Central complex, Sheldonopolis…

"Heya…I got a callback to come in…" a tall blonde woman handed her id card to a nurse receptionist at the front desk. Behind her a poster of a beaming Sheldon "He'll handle it…But you can play a vital part, too. Consider contributing your genetic material at the nearest cloning facility today."

"Uh…Ok, yeah…They've approved you." The receptionist nodded at her computer screen.

"Approved…" the woman beamed… "Yay…I guess…" she smiled to the middle-aged woman's stare…

"What does it mean, exactly?"

"You mean exactly as in , 'how much'?" the receptionist stared back at her sardonically…

"Well, can always use the credits…" the woman shrugged.

"Flat fee of 500 Sheldonopolis credits and a signed copy of a picture of Dr. Cooperson posing at the dedication of the Tower of Babel…And if your stuff works out to generate a clone line, 100 credits royalty a year…And free annual tickets to the Sheldon Capades at Sheldon Square Garden."

"Good enough for a little DNA…" the woman beamed. "Any idea why I made the cut?..."

The nurse eyed the woman…Looking her over from behind her desk, top to bottom…

"Off hand I would say it's a fairly easy guess."

( "Backstory on how Penny entered the clone line, nice touch, Howie. Adding to the depth of the story and all…" Bernadette noted. "Yeah, and the producer needed a little more screen time for his girlfriend…" Howard nodded.

"Uh, Leonard? Lets be clear here that the comic relief dumb blonde does get the regressive sarcasm here…" Penny frowned.)

"I hope that's a compliment…" the woman frowned, slightly brittle smile… "Well, I am kinda athletic, sorta and try to keep myself in good shape, I was an actress…Still do some here on my off hours when we can put on a play or two. I was just in 'Romeo and Juliet' at the Sheldon Tavern Playhouse. Not my full-time gig yet, but hopin', ya know…?"

"Nice. Occupation?" the nurse pulled up a screen on her laptop.

"Actress…" sigh to the woman's stare…

"Full time occupation…Miss, not even the legendary Tatiany Maslany's a full-time actress these days…And she's our greatest star."

"Yeah, so we all know…Be nice if she'd occasionally leave something in the leads for the rest of us to play…" frown. "Well, I was a worker on the main power grid but I just got a job as a dancer/server at that new social club…Yoshiwara's? You know it?"

"I've been there…"

"It's nice, huh?…Of course I only took the job cause it's show dancing…I don't do the other stuff. And it does pay more in credits. I'm sort of a chorus dancer, for the main show. "

"Right…Ok, Miss…You go in there and they will take a final blood sample and then you're all set."

"Great." She paused. "Will they really clone me? Make copies?"

"If there are no problems that crop up we haven't detected, yes, with slight modifications to improve metabolism and endurance. You did read and sign the consent forms?"

"Oh, yeah…It's fine…I just kinda find it…You know, weird." Apologetic smile… "To think my genetic daughters will keep getting born for ages from now…"

"'All we know of immortality…'" the nurse quoted.

"I've heard that…Where's that from?" the woman smiled.

"'Sophie's Choice'…And it's in the brochure on the cloning process… Congratulations on making a potentially major contribution to the saving of Humanity." The nurse nodded. "That way…" she pointed to the clinic door.

"Sure…Uh, say…My ummn… 'daughters'… Quote, unquote…They will have rights and all that, right? Cause I'm a big believer in that."

"It's on the consent form and in the brochure…Administration Cooperson pledges full rights to all the cloned workers once the initial need for rapid construction is over. Families will be allowed and their descendants will be integrated into the general population. They'll have the same rights as you and me."

"Great…Good…" the woman nodded.

For what that's worth…the nurse shrugged as she watched the woman enter the clinic room.

….

With Hel's previously granted by video phone permission, Beverly and Sally had brought…

Their boyfriends? Hel stared at the two slightly smaller versions of Rotwolowitz…Wearing the shirt and pants combination assigned as non-working hours casualwear for the male clones. The ladies in blouse and skirt combination, likewise chosen…Actually by Hel herself during planning of the clone lines.

A few months old and they have boyfriends?…

Not bad, girls…She repressed a smile.

They are my daughters…

Rotwolowitz taking a bit of professional pride in their guests…

Hey, great workmanship is true art…

Though a bit perturbed…

For while three of the guests were gratefully shy, a bit retiring, and eager to please…One, Beverly's "friend" Abe…Who regarded his hosts and their surroundings with clear disdain…Sarcastically referring to them as "Mummy and Dada" till Beverly reproved him…

…Was anything but…

"So the cloning game…And near-Godhood pays, I see…" Abe sneered, stretching a bit on the sofa on which he and Beverly sat.

"And the inventing business, yeah." Howard nodded.

"Must be nice…One of the Big Three founders and now an army of us to gratify your ego…Very nice." Abe noted.

"Abe…" Beverly hissed.

"What? Just paying tribute to the genius of our little God and Father, Bev. He's done well for himself."

"You got complaints…?" Rotwolowitz eyed him.

"Oh, no massa…I ain't no complaints…I ain't got no thoughts in ma head…" Abe, exaggerated pleading tone.

"Abe, stop it." Beverly frowned. "I'm sorry Dr. Rotwolowitz."

"Abe, can it willya?" Will, Sally's companion chimed in from the chair where he sat next to Sally's. Sally looking nervous.

"No, it's ok." Howard put up a hand. "I understand his feelings…But you're not a slave, Abe."

"Right, boss. Not a slave." Abe nodded. "Can't choose a career, can't live where I like, can't call my life my own, can't marry, can't even buy clothes I like, but not a slave, no sir, Boss." Phony pasted smile, nod.

"You'll be granted full human rights as soon as conditions permit, Abe." Hel noted gently. "Any limitations are only temporary. All of us live under restrictions right now, due to conditions."

"You seem pretty free to me, ma'am…Mom." Abe eyed her.

"Things aren't always what they may seem, Abe." Hel replied, calmly. "Dr. Rotwolowitz and I are currently under confinement due to a situation."

"Really?" Sally stared. "That's not right."

"Hmmn. I see where most of us get the lack of guts, then…" Abe smiled. "You just sit here and let them walk all over you? You'll be pleased to know most of us kids follow in your footsteps."

"Abe! Enough!" Beverly, annoyed.

Hel repressing a grin at the immediate counterpoint to Abe's argument…Sticks up for herself while still going for the bad boy… That's my girl…

"But I guess I should shut up. Our divine Daddy here might decide I'm a reject and consign me to the genetic scrap pile. Sorry, to quote a fellow slave clone, 'it's not an easy thing to meet your Maker.'" Abe, grimly.

"'Blade Runner', nice. Glad to see you got my taste in films…And…No…" Howard shook head. "I might kick you on your keyster, but killing you would be murder, just like with anyone else."

"If you have questions, Abe, ask them…" Hel eyed him. "I can't guarantee we can answer all of them but we'll tell you what we know."

"Ok…'Mom'…" Abe leaned back. "When do I get to decide my future and what I want to do with my life, such as it is?"

"Officially…Soon as the major construction is completed. In fact, I wish I knew…For ourselves as well as you." Hel replied.

"You don't know…" Abe eyed her. "You? You're one of the Big Three, A Founder of the City, and you say you don't know?"

"Administrator Cooperson has the final word on all that…And has made it clear he means to keep that final word strictly in his own hands." Hel noted quietly. "When he tells us, I'll gladly let you know."

"They say…" Will cut in… "It's just a rumor round the dormitories…But some people are saying martial law has been declared, some kind of special crisis…?"

"It's true…" Hel nodded. "And that's why we're cooped up in here, under the Administrator's orders."

"Lord God Sheldon Cooperson doing it to you, too, huh?" Abe grinned.

"Sounds like a coup or something…" Sally noted. "We've been studying history in class…" she explained to Rotwolowitz's look.

"About the size of it…" he nodded.

"And you just take it…" Abe eyed him, sneering tone. "Like I said, I see where it comes from now. No wonder there aren't any Cooperson clones. They might have a few balls."

"That's it, Abe…Maybe we should go." Beverly, rising.

"No, stay…" Hel put up a hand. "He's got a right to his opinion. Though I'd ask him to show a little common courtesy."

"Sorry…'Mom'…I'll try to behave." Abe, coolly. "Ok?" he eyed the annoyed Beverly who gave him a hard look that even he seemed to wither a bit under, both sitting back down.

"Sorry." Beverly, calmly. "I think things will be better now."

"You may be right about all that…Kid…" Rotwolowitz, eyeing Abe. "But, if I were thinking about doing something about all this, I'd hardly tell a fan of Sheldon's like you, would I?"

Grin from Will… "He's got you there, Abe."

"Is it really serious?" Sally looked anxiously at her "parents". "I don't mean to sound selfish but how would this affect us?"

"Whatever happens the City will need you, don't worry." Hel reassured her. "You're part of the future of Sheldonopolis, a big part…And we'll do all we can to see that your share in the future is as big and independent as anyone's."

"Well, then…" Howard had poured some wine to glasses… "A toast…To a better future for us all." He offered glasses to each, raising his.

"To a new world of Gods and monsters…All thanks to you, 'Dad'…" Abe replied, raising his.


End file.
